Halo: Revolutions Volume 1
by Halo Revolutions
Summary: A polished collection of Halo short stories written by some of the Bungie community's most renowned fanfiction authors. Six stories over six weeks. 10 months in the making. The Revolution starts here.-See Foreword for official PDF document.
1. Foreword

**FOREWORD**

_By_

MaxRealflugel

It is said that imitation is the finest form of flattery. And that's certainly true. But with Halo things are different. No one else has ever managed to reproduce the unique success of the FPS that changed it all. So if the gods allow, a few loyal fans have come together to emulate, in their own way, the wonder that is Halo.

Halo is a remarkable game, in any guise. It goes beyond the conventional with a crisp perspective on xenophobic attitudes to the archetype of humanity and its last stand. Some might disagree, but all I can say is this: "They obviously haven't played it yet".

Halo exhibits all the usual hallmarks of any great title: superb graphics, amazing game play, envious multiplayer arenas and an engrossing storyline. But it's mainly the latter that entices me to return again and again. But as most of us have discovered, the games only scratch the surface of a much bigger plot.

Eric Nylund was the first to explore this surreptitious realm of back-story with _The Fall of Reach _and he did so with a grace that few can rival, which is probably why he's the main literary outlet for Bungie's golden egg. It paved the way for the trilogy by filling us in on the arduous selection process and training that each Spartan-II went through. He provided the required background for some of the greatest heroes ever known and how most of them, ultimately, made the ultimate sacrifice in the defence of humanity. Then Reach fell under the might of the Covenant war machine and we embarked upon a journey that would change the gaming industry, as we know it. Afterwards, when the dust had apparently settled, Nylund gave us _First Strike _and _The Ghosts of Onyx. _But that wasn't the end of it. More novels followed, filling us in on the exploits of the much-loved Sgt Johnson and the whereabouts of the mysterious Grey Team and the events on Halo itself, and the terrifying nightmare that is the Flood.

Our last serving of Halo fiction was Halo: _Evolutions, _a tantalising snippet of what else has happened in the universe that we have come to love.

But we want more, don't we?

7In a collaborative effort between three of the most popular and influential Fanfiction groups on , we have managed to produce a document written by some of the best Fanfiction authors around. It features completely new stories to entice every reader, and accompanying them are some of the best unofficial pieces of Halo related artwork around.

So stop what you're doing, pull up a chair and turn the page, or scroll down. Enjoy.

./Halo%5E_?wa=wsignin1.0&sa=154803696

**Halo: Revolutions **is the end result of ten months of work done by some of the most renowned authors and artists of the Halo universe in order to create a fanfiction experience unlike any other for the Halo community-a series of epic, tragic, heart-wrenching and empowering short stories, with the addition of mind-blowing masterpieces by some of 's finest artists.

Thus far, **VOLUME ONE** has gone live on , HBO and . Access the link above for the official Halo: Revolutions Volume One PDF (art included) and enjoy!

_**VOLUME ONE STORIES AND AUTHORS**_

_Absconditus_-ajw34304/Ar7emis

_The year is 2559, dormant secrets from the dawn of time are stirring beneath the Earth. An ancient plan of the Forerunners has fallen into motion, the Cryptum has opened, and Earth will never be the same again._

_Miss Isabella-_Deception Cobra

_Witness the gruesome horror of a battle from the Human-Covenant War told through the eyes of a small child._

_Incursio-_Skulblaka

_The story of a Longsword pilot during the battle of Reach. Shane and his squadron fight the Covenant in the hope of stopping their invasion of Reach and their goal to destroy mankind._

_Three Betrayals-_Mr. Evil 37

_After contact is suddenly reestablished with an old friend, 343 Guilty Spark soon realizes all is not as it seems. His friend has been tainted - and will the same happen to him?_

_Grey-_Arthur Wellesey

_Do No Harm-_MaxRealFlugel

_After tending to the many injured during the siege of Harmony, a UNSC surgeon is instructed by a Sangheili Special Ops Team to save life of the only remaining survivor. But he encounters a dilemma-should he save the man and doom humanity or try something different altogether?_

**STORIES WILL BE RELEASED ONCE A WEEK IN THE ABOVE ORDER, SO CONTINUE TO CHECK THIS PAGE, AND ENJOY!**

Be on the lookout for Halo: Revolutions Volume Two, including even more short stories from critically acclaimed fanfiction authors, COMING NEXT FALL...


	2. Absconditus

ABSCONDITUS

_By Ar7emis_

She looked out at the vast, beautiful landscape that faced her. The sun was high in the sky, shining down on the dewy green grass; its beauty reflected in the lakes - everywhere was vibrant and full of life. She lay down on her back, looking up at the clear blue sky. There were distinct swirling patterns of colour, growing larger and larger as every second passed, and then shrinking; abstract hues were shifting and morphing into different shapes... It was that moment that the gritty reality of this beautiful world hit the Librarian like a concrete wall.

The swirling patterns were not a thing of wonder; they were the sign of a war raging across the cosmos... Billions of her fellow Forerunners had been slaughtered; they had been on the receiving end of a fate worse than death. Perhaps worst of all - their seemingly eternal struggle was solitary. Not that this wasn't their own fault, upholding the Mantle was a herculean task - it meant making sure that no other race could make it more difficult for them by being allowed to advance freely. A regrettable loophole...

From her pocket, the Librarian pulled out a small device and began tapping several buttons; her final message:

_My work is done. The portal is inactive, and I've begun the burial measures. Soon there'll be nothing but sand and rock and normal ferrite signatures._

_You should see the mountain that watches over it. A beautiful thing - a snow-capped sentinel. That's where I will spend what time is left to me._

_Did I tell you? I built a garden. The earth is so rich. A seed falls and a tree sprouts, or a flower blooms. There's so much... potential. We knew this was a special place because of them, but unless you've been here, you can't know._

_It's Eden._

_I have to stop transmitting. The thing is listening. Its thinking dead are babbling - laughing through every channel they can find._

_Be proud. The Mind claims victory, yet it still doesn't suspect. You've outwitted it, my love. And now you can destroy it._

_But you cannot save me._

_/ FRAGMENT ENDS_

A solitary tear ran down the face of the Forerunner, in full knowledge of what was about to happen. This was the end of their Empire; the end of the Forerunner; the end for all life in the galaxy as they knew it... But even as she wept for the fate that had engulfed her species, a single thought entered her mind.

_This was far from the end for her._

OFFICE OF NAVAL INTELLIGENCE PRIORITY MESSAGE

ENCRYPTION CODE: **[THOUGH THE FIRE HAS GONE, A FLAME STILL BURNS]**

From: **[CODENAME: SURGEON]**

To: **[CODENAME: OVERSEER] **/ ONI operative, **[SECTION ZERO]**, Special Logistics Command (SpecLogCom)

Subject: **[Operation: ABSCONDITUS]**

Classification: RESTRICTED (XXX-XD DIRECTIVE)

**/LOG UNDER CLASSIFICATION OF ONI ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (ANDROMEDA)\\**

/Start file / decryption protocol enabled\\

Overseer,

Recent events **[CLASSIFIED 2559, DISCOVERY EVENT] **have had me engrossed in a constant battle with my own head to try and figure out what the Forerunners planned - what they planned for us.I can glimpse only a fleeting aspect of it; we have all seen the _sword_ and the _shield_, but something's amiss. Or maybe I'm just getting paranoid?

Anyway, your crew's recent drilling expedition into **[AREA-16]** has lead to some interesting discoveries. Even the highest chain of our command could never have predicted the structures under the **[PORTAL SITE] **to be so extensive, and we could be months (even years) away from finding what is actually down there. The AI **[FRAGMENT-O32 MB]** has been talking again; I have no doubt it's insane (or rampant), but its babbling poses some questions. Where is **[CHARLIE HOTEL]** when you need her?

It even managed to gain access to my personal files; all that was attached was a string of words: _Atonement... Atonement... Atonement..._

**[Codename: USUAL SUSPECTS]** suggests termination of the AI for absorbing data of the highest secrecy, but I'm arguing the case against him (_as you should too_). There's too much to learn; so much would be wasted if we were to lose this one. I look forward to exploring the ruin myself next month. Xenotheoretic analysis teams are already working on how everything links together, and I'm recommending this project for further funds. This is big, but you're going to be treading on a lot of important toes for this project, maybe even Parangosky...

_Tread damn lightly_, Overseer.

P.S. Next time, send some damn pictures!

**/END\\**

The Portal Artefact on Earth was one of the greatest mysteries that Earth held. It appeared as a colossal dish-like structure, with fourteen large metal monoliths spread around its circumference. It stretched for approximately one hundred and twenty kilometres; since it had been unearthed it was visible from orbit.

Humanity had only recently learned of its existence; during the Great War against the Covenant, one of the Hierarchs of the alien coalition (the Prophet of Regret) had stumbled upon Earth and - having learned humans resided on the planet – proceeded to transmit the planets' coordinates to their homeworld (a colossal space station that served as the Covenant's base of operations, known as High Charity). However, Regret then fled from Earth (his destination being another Halo Ring)**, **before one of the other Hierarch's (the Prophet of Truth) sent his fleet to the human planet. The metropolitan city of New Mombasa in Kenya, East Africa was occupied by Covenant forces, and the process of Glassing began almost immediately - but this was unlike any other planet the Covenant had hit in their long genosidal campaign of the human race. This was Earth, the final bastion.

The Prophet of Truth (_de-facto_ leader of the Covenant after two of the three Hierarchs were killed) dedicated the majority of his forces just east of Voi - a town one hundred and forty kilometres away from New Mombasa. On November 17th, 2552, the Prophet of Truth himself entered the fray; he arrived in a Forerunner Dreadnaught and smashed through Earth's home fleet. By this time, the Artefact had been fully uncovered**, **with Truth proceeding to land the Dreadnaught in the centre of it. Powered by the engines of the ancient vessel, a veil of darkness began to fall over Voi as the weather conditions hit extreme levels, and - after accumulating enough power - activated the Artifact.

The Portal led to a bastion of the Forerunners, a superstructure _outside_ of the Milky Way galaxy called _the Ark_. The Ark was a safe haven, a shelter from the activation of the Halo Rings that would wipe out all life capable of sustaining the Flood organism in the galaxy.

At the end of the Human/Covenant war, the Portal closed and was believed to be dormant. But yet it still was drawing power from an unknown energy source; this was something that the Office of Naval Intelligence had considerable interest in, and they had quickly begun hiring xenoarchaeologists to dig into the structure, under the watchful eye of one of their Section Zero agents: _CODENAME: Overseer_.

**2034 HOURS, OCTOBER 23rd, 2559 (UNSC MILITARY CALENDAR) \ ARTEFACT SITE, KENYA, EARTH**

The Overseer stood on the edge of a great cliff, observing the final moments of sunset as the sky turned from a crisp crimson-orange to dark blue. His thoughts were gone with the wind; faded were the worries of what horror might come the next day that he had experienced for over two and a half decades. Now, finally, was a time for peace.

Recently, after many years, he had observed the stars through his grandfather's telescope. It was a primitive method of gazing at the universe, but it had been a way to pass the time. One thing that he'd taken notice of was that Mars was brighter than usual - as the civilizations before them used to say, the signs of an oncoming war...

_Ha_, a voice in the Overseer's mind chuckled. _Not now, not after all that we've lost._

_But really?_ Spoke another voice. _The Elites chose to pursue the scattered remnants of the Covenant when we severed ties, and they've not been doing very well. We could be dragged into this conflict without any allies to help us._

_We owe nothing to the Elites_, the Overseer thought with gritted teeth. _They were one of the main causes of over twenty three billion human deaths._

But he knew that was not really true; the Elites had caused all those deaths, but without the Great Schism causing them to change sides, the human race would most certainly have been wiped out. Although, the destruction of Joyous Exultation might have been another reason for the Elites joining humanity - a way to save their own necks. The ONI agent found it very difficult to accept that the Elites, the aliens who had nearly destroyed his race, were their saviours. An ironic oddity, indeed.

The Overseer felt ashamed that he had done little of any importance during the war_; I never risked my life to save others._ The war had caught everyone off-guard with its brutal beginning and he'd found himself out of his depth. He hated that he could be seen as a coward for his actions (or _lack of_) during humanity's desperate struggle; instead he had left it up to the top brass to send good men and women into battle and die. _That was my contribution to the war._

Even so, he felt some satisfaction in being the head of the ABSCONDITUS Project, something that might have him do something positive for the future of humanity. As it turned out, the Artefact was even _bigger_ than they had originally imagined; a series of interlinked tunnels (akin to a labyrinth) winded their way far down into the Earth.

There was a sudden buzzing from behind**. **The Overseer turned around and saw a UH-144 Falcon gunship gliding on the night sky towards him**,** its twin rotors beginning to slow as the transport vehicle locked its altitude to his level**. **A man jumped out and hobbled over to greet the Overseer**;** his dark brown hair was stood on end as a result of the Falcon's rotors**. **The man clutched at his coat with both hands but still managed to snap a crisp salute to his superior.

"At ease, Lieutenant," the Overseer barked. "News?"

"Professor Sorvad's team have hit the big one, sir. A new set of catacombs have been unlocked, we're preparing to send a team through, and Spartans are _en route_."

_Spartans?_ The Overseer thought to himself. _It must be important_. One thing was certain; this was going to be interesting. Interesting _and_ dangerous.

"Something I'm not being told, Lieutenant?" he asked, trying to wheedle the answers out of the man; _not that I expect a grunt like him to know much._

"Nothing I know about, sir," the Lieutenant replied sternly, clearly detesting his own lack of knowledge as much as his superior. "Section Zero's top brass is deploying Team Rapier to accompany you. They're either concerned for what you'll find down there, or concerned for you."

"Would it be too much to hope for the latter?" The Overseer chuckled; he knew that ONI did not give a damn about him as long as he delivered what they wanted. _I am the means to an end, for once_, he thought to himself, the irony readily apparent. _I am the tool, rather than the one who uses it._

"We had better get moving, sir," the Lieutenant said, frustration obviously rising up within him; _discovery takes patience._ "We don't want to keep Professor Sorvad waiting."

**2119 HOURS, OCTOBER 23rd, 2559 (UNSC MILITARY CALENDAR) \ ARTEFACT ATRIUM, SORVAD'S LAB, EARTH**

Professor Sára Sorvad's lab was kept immaculately clean; there were organised shelves of rock, granite and Forerunner alloy samples; desks with neatly stacked piles of paper, letters from ONI, and her close-to-overheating laptop. The floor was made of marble; the crew of Project: ABSCONDITUS had spent a lot of time setting up the place as their new home. ONI paid them well to work long hours.

Sára was the daughter of Professor Laszlo Sorvad, one of Doctor Catherine Halsey's leading xenoarchaeologists who took part in her research project on the planet Reach. His discovery of the Forerunner "Latchkey" Artefact had been a central event that helped change the course of the Human/Covenant war in 2552, but he had met an unfortunate end when a group of Elite Zealots had infiltrated Visegrad's Relay Station and killed him.

_I watched him die... That video feed still haunts my dreams._

Sára never spoke to others about her father, but his work kept her motivated for every challenge, giving her a strong resolve. She kept a small golden locket that her father had given to her in her pocket at all times. But sometimes the locket only served to remind her of the emotional pain of his death.

The Overseer knocked on the door to the lab and opened it, regardless of whether Sára was happy with his entry. She was seated at her desk, filing papers and hammering in commands on her laptop at the same time, a mug of stone cold coffee resting on a coaster.

"Professor Sorvad," the Overseer greeted, trying to keep up the facade of being cheerful.

"Thank you for coming at such short notice, Overseer," Sorvad replied, not turning to him, but sweeping back her jet black hair from her face. "_I'll csak lenni pillanat_."

Luckily, the Overseer understood Hungarian; she'd said that she'd just be a minute. It was a habit of hers to reply to others in her native tongue, either to tease or because she wasn't aware she was doing it; she appreciated having the Overseer as her boss because he put up with it. _Begrudgingly_, he thought.

"Professor," a light female**, **but unmistakably electronic, voice began. The artificial intelligence's holographic avatar appeared - a kind looking young woman with stormy grey eyes, a pearly white toga and a single grey owl perched on her shoulder. "Team Rapier has just touched down on Pad 4, and are ready for your orders."

"Thank you, Athena," Sorvad replied. "Are you ready for transit?"

"Confirmed," the AI, named Athena, stated. "All systems are prepared, transferring to data chip... now."

Athena's face fell a little, almost as if she was disappointed at having to leave her current position. She was coming up on the end of her seven year period of effectiveness, and AIs often built up emotion and feelings after such a long time. Rampancy was always a risk, and the Overseer was concerned that it would soon be necessary to terminate Athena. _Such a shame_, he thought to himself. _She is very good at what she does. She's been with us from the beginning; I guess she's always known the way it'd end._

_Wow, I have started calling her 'she'._

Sára tapped a few controls on her laptop, and there was a low hiss as Athena's avatar vanished. Sorvad pulled out a small data crystal chip and pocketed it, packing up her laptop in a small bag.

"Let's go meet our Spartans," Professor Sorvad said, a curious hint of sadness in her tone when she uttered the word "Spartans".

_Ah_, the Overseer mused, as he realised the cause of her apparent sadness. _Noble Team...Reach..._

The Spartans stood tall in their MJOLNIR Mark VI armoured suits, their faces hidden behind deeply polarised gold-coloured visors that separated them from the rest of humanity - they were born warriors. Each of them saluted, one (clearly the leader) stepped forward.

"Team Rapier reporting for duty, sir." The Spartan spoke confidently, his voice deep with a slight growl to it. His helmet was aesthetically similar to the SPI variants worn by Spartan-IIIs (of which the "top secret" files had _somehow_ made their way into the Overseer's hands after the death of Colonel James Ackerson); from what the Overseer had gathered, Team Rapier was a splinter division of Gamma Company used for separate priority missions.

"What's your name, Spartan?" the Overseer asked, only mildly interested and curious - as he always was with Spartans.

"Seth, sir, Spartan G043," he replied concisely. "This is Miranda, Rapier 2; Arthur and David, 3 and 4."

The other three Spartans wore different helmets; it was clear that they had all been given liberties to show themselves off. In some respects, it was a shame that the war was over; _they really did look menacing, and it was a shame that their military potential was being wasted. _Miranda sported a Recon helmet, and looked ready for a fight; she was slightly jumpy and looking around for any signs of hostility (as her years of training had drilled into her bones). Arthur's head featured a HAZOP (colloquially abbreviated from: HAZard OPerability) variant, whilst David wore a Commando helmet. Each of them looked extremely imposing and intimidating, sending shivers down the Overseer's spine as he pondered the things they were capable of doing. _And the things that they've done..._

Professor Sorvad walked up to Team Rapier's leader and presented him with Athena's data chip. The Spartan held out his large hand and took it.

"Thank you, ma'am," he nodded to her, inserting the chip in a slot on the back of his helmet, before turning to the Overseer."We're ready whenever you are, sir."

"Athena has control over our electronics; she'll keep our systems online for us, keep us all updated and provide directions." Sorvad stated.

"How're we getting there?" Miranda asked the Overseer quizzically.

_Forgot the 'sir'_, he thought irritably. _I may not be military, but I'm still their damn superior!_

"We have three Warthogs stationed here, we can use those to navigate through the tunnel," the ONI agent said.

"We'll split up," Seth informed his squad. "I assume they've got weapons?"

"Gauss cannons and M41s are at your disposal. The Professor and I will be taking the Transport Hog."

"I'd like to inspect the vehicles before we leave," Arthur requested. "I need to check that they're all up to optimum capability."

"Very well," the Overseer said with a hint of annoyance in his tone; he couldn't appreciate the military indoctrination that these Spartans had been through since they were children. _I never went through it myself. I never risked myself..._ "Whenever you're ready."

**2200 HOURS, OCTOBER 23rd, 2559 (UNSC MILITARY CALENDAR) \ ARTEFACT INTERIOR, TUNNEL 4C, EARTH**

The Warthogs trundled along a never-ending path leading deeper into the Artefact's tunnels - a network of which Athena had plotted a path through. There was very little in the way of lights, but the Overseer and Sára were wearing their specialized ONI optics; they featured a polarised blue visor that stretched across the eyes and displayed tactical information about the area. It was known as the Visual Intelligence System, and had been created as a prototype for use by Orbital Drop Shock Troopers,but ONI had taken a liking to the technology and had funded the development ofa line of customized versions for their agents.

It was not very comfortable to be sat in the cramped passenger seat whilst the steering wheel turned itself (as Athena controlled it), but Sára didn't seem to care as she was constantly peering at her notebook and laptop screen - scrawling down notes with her pen.

The members of Team Rapier were very silent during the ride. It was likely that they were using their own private TEAMCOM channels to communicate - the Overseer was sure he had seen Miranda brush her hand over the side of her helmet, around the area of her COM link, several times. He wondered what they were talking about, but felt annoyed that they had been cleared to talk behind his back.

"Overseer," Athena's soothing synthetic voice spoke. "I am detecting a superstructure several kilometres north of this location; it is likely the main chamber, as it is also several thousand feet below our current location and I can't find any other areas of similar size."

Sára was hammering the keys on her laptop; she had a typing speed of 110 WPM - not quite of Halsey's standard, but the Overseer could still have mistaken it for machine gun fire.

"Yes, it seems so. But we may run into Forerunner defences on the way," Sára drummed her lower lip, speaking to herself more than anyone. "What happens from now is just theory and guesswork."

_Thump!_

The Overseer nearly lurched out of the Warthog's seat; he had never been more thankful for seat belts in his something distant had caused the very ground to shudder; the light on Sára's laptop began to fade and the screen went blank.

"What the hell was that?" The Overseer asked, his breathing rate increasing, turning his head around to see Team Rapier behind them in two separate Warthogs.

"Alert, our presence has been compromised_,"_ Athena stated.

"Compromised?" Seth questioned, confused. "Compromised by what?"

The Overseer saw Miranda swivel the Gauss Turret around; she was trying to get a glimpse at what had caught them.

"I've got a bad feeling about this..." Arthur groaned.

"Sir, eyes ahead," David announced suddenly. He highlighted a waypoint on their heads up display, pointing towards a blinding white light moving towards them. Their visors polarised to their maximum tint, but it was still nearly blinding.

"What is that?" Sorvad asked incredulously.

_Thump!_

The ground shook violently beneath them, threatening to toss the Warthogs into the air like tennis balls. The Overseer gripped his chair tightly, knuckles turning a ghostly white, as the fear rose within him like a cold explosion, _how I've always hated this thing's suspension_.

"I don't like this," Seth growled. "Is there an alternate path?"

"Negative, Rapier 1. Our course is absolute, no alternate routes available,"Athena replied concisely.

The light shimmered like a curtain of energy, almost blissful; white and gold iridescence moved like swirls from a paintbrush around an orb of divinity. The Overseer thought he could hear it sing, the call of an angel... it was so beautiful, so stunning, and so... _warm._

The brightness began to fade, as the singing stopped. Seven additional shafts of pearly white energy began to glow hot around the light's diameter; _it's charging up..._

"It's a beam..." Sára whispered to herself, not fully comprehending the significance of that Overseer, fortunately, did.

"Oh my God," he breathed. "Scatter! Now!"

The light exploded; a massive bolt of energy shot past the Overseer's Warthog and collided with the wall beside them. The heat was intense. Fires began burning slowly as another charged beam hit the ceiling above, sending chunks of rock and Forerunner alloy raining upon them. The Overseer's senses were under assault. The deadly column of energy blinded him; the explosions overwhelmed his ears. He felt his heart rate jump to light speed, hammering against his rib cage like a jackhammer, as the adrenalin began pumping through him.

Seth activated his VISR and scanned the outline of their attacker. The Overseer quickly followed suit.

It was colossal, similar to a Covenant Scarab but ten times as big and infinitely more menacing. _It looks like a... tank_, the Overseer thought; _a _Forerunner _Tank_. It was shaped like a scorpion; the energy weapon had been fired from the 'mouth' of it and the 'tail' was now jabbing at the walls around it. The tank's heavily armoured 'claws' were snapping as it moved backwards at an incredible speed.

_Some kind of defensive measure,_ Sorvad hypothesised. _But defending what?_

"We can't fight that thing!" Sára shouted over the COM, as Miranda opened fire with the Gauss Cannon. But the Overseer knew that it would not dent the giant weapons platform.

"Why is it attacking us?" David asked. "I thought that these constructs identified humans as Reclaimers."

"That's restricted information," the Overseer scolded the Spartan; he had had enough of the genetically engineered soldiers knowing everything they shouldn't; _how do they do it?_ He was amazed at their capabilities. However, he often found them rather disconcerting. But now was not the time for anger.

"Spartan-III Gamma Company received a chemical cocktail that augmented the frontal lobe of the brain. The 009762-OO compound enhances aggression to animalistic-like levels," Athena stated, in her characteristically matter-of-fact manner.

"Which means that you would all be identified as an aboriginal sub-species of humans by these Forerunner constructs," Sára finished Athena's sentence for her.

"Alert!" the AI warned suddenly. "Three hundred meters ahead is a break in the path; our foe is more devious than I imagined. We are cornered."

That final sentence sent sharp shivers running down the Overseers spine; _it's going to obliterate us..._

"We're gonna have to jump it," Seth barked.

"Are you _insane_?" The Overseer roared in shock; _what kind of leader is he? He's going to get us killed!_

"We've got no choice, sir."

He couldn't think. A mental barrier had stopped his brain from processing anything. They could risk the jump and let fate decide whether they live or die, or they could stand and fight for their lives against the military might of the Forerunner Empire. The Overseer could not fool himself; _we would be absolutely annihilated. _

As much as he hated to admit it, the roughish Spartan was right; _for once._

"All right, Spartan," the Overseer growled. "We'll do it your way, but if I die down here, I'll kill you!"

Seth chuckled to himself: _I'd love to see him try._

They braced themselves; Sára clutched at the golden locket and closed her eyes. Her appearance was quite calm. The Overseer himself tightened his grip on the hard Warthog chair, preparing for the worst.

Suddenly, there was another flash of white light; the Overseer felt his blood run cold as the air was sucked out of his lungs with an obnoxious _bang!_

There was nothing... just darkness.

**2342 HOURS, OCTOBER 23rd, 2559 (UNSC MILITARY CALENDAR) \ CORE ROOM ANTECHAMBER, **_**ABSCONDITUS**_**, EARTH**

The Overseer's eyes jerked open. His head throbbed, and he tasted blood on the tip of his tongue; _never a good sign._He could smell burning, and could feel flames flicker and dance around him; _nor is that._ He pulled himself up and shook his head, trying to clear his senses, but felt his heart sink as he saw a body slumped on the floor, broken and stationary, wearing MJOLNIR armour.

He was momentarily shocked into silence. _She is dead_, he thought in horror. Due to his paper pushing during the war, he had only very rarely seen a dead body; _just one more thing that singles me out from a species tortured by war._

"I'm sorry, sir," Seth said quietly, jolting the Overseer out of his deep train of thoughts. "Not all of us made the landing."

"You call that a landing?" The Overseer was beside himself; it was Seth's fault that they had lost someone. But he couldn't help but feel pity for the Spartans.

Seth was down on his knees next to Miranda's lifeless body. He scowled in rage at the Overseer, but bit back a response and returned to look at his fallen comrade. That was another thing the Overseer knew nothing of; _war time brotherhood._

Mirandawas covered in blood; a head-sized chunk of her torso had been blasted off completely, and her innards were exposed. The Overseer noticed that Seth had turned off his COM; he was sure that the Spartan was weeping. _He loved her_, the Overseer thought, intrigued. But this kind of love was only be attained through the trust of a military unit, especially one as small and close-knit as Rapier. A strange feeling arose with the Overseer, and it took him a moment to realise what it was; _envy._

"_Sajnálom_, I'm sorry..." Sára whispered, echoing the words that had been said to her by another Spartan when her father was killed at Visegrad.

Seth and Sára held a silent vigil. Arthur was the only other Spartan to survive - David had vanished without a trace, but considering what had happened to Miranda, the Overseer concluded, with little concern or sympathy**,** that his body was likely vaporized.

Seth cradled her helmet in his hands; he replayed the recording of what had happened.

**/PLAY\\**

The Warthog was barrelling through the tunnels, fires blazing everywhere. Miranda screamed as the vehicle was launched through the air, she launched herself off the back of the turret and landed on the Forerunner Tank's hull.

"David!" She called to her comrade. She held out her hand as the other Spartan sprung from his Warthog, but disaster had struck.

The Tank's energy projector had charged up, Miranda felt David's hand slip from hers and he fell - the beam firing at the same time.

"NO!" Miranda screamed. David's vitals flatlined as he was blasted into a million chunks of flesh.

There was only one option left, the scaled down MFDD system integrated into her armour's failsafe systems. She tore off the front part of her MJOLNIR chest piece and tapped in a command on a small pad that was covered under a panel, twenty seconds and counting...

She did this for the mission, for the team, for the fallen...

_10... 9... 8... 7..._

Quite content with her fate, she was flung off the front of the Tank and fell down for what seemed to be forever. But it was warm; heat swept over her and filled her senses.

_BOOM!_

**/... VIDEO FEED CUT OFF, UNEXPECTED ERROR. PLEASE RECALIBRATE SYSTEM DRIVE.\\**

"Spartans never die," Arthur said, his voice breaking, as he placed a reassuring hand on Seth's shoulder. He then pulled up the roster for Team Rapier, selecting Miranda and David from the list and marking them as MIA. _Spartan's never die, _the Overseer repeated in his head. The irony was apparent to him; _they _always_ die._

"Now we carry on," the Overseer said eagerly.

For a moment, no one said anything. Seth took one last look at the crumpled shape of Miranda, before turning back to the Overseer.

"Affirmative, sir," Seth said, his voice quieter than usual_._"Rapier 3, let's move."

They walked on in silence, each of them lamenting the deaths that had occurred from out of nowhere. The Overseer didn't particularly get on with Spartans, but he couldn't help but feel a wave of empathy for the surviving members of Team Rapier when he saw Miranda's mutilated remains. That did not mean that he cared much for her however, or that he would sacrifice the success of the mission to save more lives.

The Tank had been an unforeseen complication, but that did not change the fact that whatever Forerunner secrets were locked away within the facility, ONI needed them. _I need them_, he thought. _I _need_ answers... With such heavy defences, this has got to be big._

The Forerunner corridors were identical; if it were not for Professor Sorvad and Athena guiding them through the catacombs, the Overseer had no doubt that they would be hopelessly lost. After passing through another set of huge, elaborately carved doors, the group finally emerged onto a glass catwalk; it extended upwards forabout a hundred feet and broke off into a circular platform - a control console at the end. Around them were over a hundred flying robotic constructs: Sentinels. Unlike the Forerunner Tank, these guardians were not shooting at them.

_Yet_, the Overseer reminded himself. _Let's see how long that lasts with trigger happy, vengeful Spartans among us._

He then noticed that they were not the standard installation Sentinels that could be found tending to the Halo rings and the Ark; instead they were spherical, and featured a single red eye with three booms rotating in a clockwise direction. The Overseer remembered reading the reports on the battle above the planet Onyx; the Sentinels had combined together and taken out half a Covenant fleet. The thought of being in the presence of things that could have him disintegrated on the spot was particularly unnerving... _But_, the Overseer reminded himself once more, _I am also surrounded by battle-ready Spartans._

The enormous chamber was spherical with silver-tinted walls. Large power conduits provided adequate illumination, as rocks jutted out of the strange alloy. It was eerie; all that could be heard was a low humming and the whirring of ancient machinery. _So much happened here_, he thought in awe. _And so much more is about to follow._

Making their way to the control console, the Spartans seemed especially keen to keep their weapons poised in preparation for any kind of hostility the Sentinels showed. _Typical over-aggressiveness brought on by unnecessary genetic augmentation._

The unlikely group reached the control console. A blue globe rotated slowly in the centre, between two holographic screens; both showed quickly scrolling numbersand strange glyphs that were completely alien to the Overseer - and yet strangely familiar from a time long past. The Overseer immediately felt his hand stretching out, a voice whispering in the back of his head like a persistent parasite. He couldn't make out the words, but he could tell that they were egging him on to touch the console, encouraging him at a subconscious level. _And yet I'm aware of what's happening_, he realised. _But I can't stop it. Genetic memory?_

Sára saw the Overseer's hand almost an inch away from the sphere, and slapped it away.

"You have no idea what will happen if you touch that," she said.

The Overseer ignored her; he was absent from this world, and stared into the rotating sphere, trying harder to understand the voices. He felt a terrible sadness and terror that transcended millennia; he could see strange alien children crying as a colossal city stood ablaze.

"_The apex of our Empire -"_

"_Lost all hope!"_

"_Cannot be stopped! He's going to fire -"_

"_Our last line of defence -"_

"_Abandoned us! The Mantle -"_

Sára looked at the Overseer, her brow raised in worry. Seth spoke: "Sir, if you're going to press that, you do it with humanity's best interest at heart - not your own curiosity."

_I take orders from Spartans now, do I?_ The Overseer chuckled in his mind. _This is my chance to do something... This is it..._

The Overseer pressed his hand onto the console. Instantly the blue globe began to spin, holographic hexagons lighting up like beacons in the darkness- each featuring a different Forerunner glyph. The sphere began to rise upwards, pulsing for a second, before expanding dozens of times over; before the Overseers eyes, it morphed into a holographic view of the Earth.

"Now _that's_ not what I expected," Sára exhaled. The dozens of glyphs moved across the holographic surface of the Earth, before each one finally came to a halt over a different location. Her eyes widened in shock. "That's _really_ not what I expected..."

"What is it, ma'am?" Arthur asked incredulously.

"Look, that's where we are now," Sára pointed at Kenya on the holographic atlas."It looks as if this isn't the only ancient structure below the surface of the Earth; there are dozens, no, _hundreds_ hidden around the world... Egypt, Rome, China," she crossed them off with her fingers. "Istanbul, India, San Francisco, England, Athens, Bermuda, Easter Island, Antarctica..."

"_Ah_," a wave of realisation washed over the Overseer's face; _this is it_, he thought with exultation. _This is what we have been searching for all these years. All of the secrets of the Forerunners will be at those locations..._

"Exactly, look! These are all historic monuments, the wonders of the world: The Great Pyramid of Giza; Stonehenge; the Taj Mahal; the Vatican..."

"They are all monuments to the Forerunners, _or something more,_" grinned the Overseer; _finally. Finally!_"This is where it all began. Word must have spread amongst primitive human cultures, passing down through generations as religion and prophecy - of a race of gods that visited us**.** The story must have changed through the ages, forming new religions based on the events of when their race inhabited Earth."

"I wouldn't say that the Forerunner _inhabited_ this planet," Sára mused. "No, I think that it lies in our genetic memory - we are the inheritors of their Mantle."

_Of course._

"Their what?" Seth asked.

"The Mantle," Sára replied. "A rough interpretation would be _'the guardian of life'_, or - as their glyphs show - _'Reclaimer'_."

_This information... it could answer all of our questions_, the Overseer thought. _The truth behind our origins, behind the nature of the Forerunners and the Halo rings. The secrets of the universe..._

"ONI needs to see all of this," the Overseer stated matter-of-factly. "We need to get SURGEON down here."

The hologram of Earth suddenly faded; its pulsing blue light shrinking as it returned to being a small rotating globe.

"Sir, I need that map back up," Sára said, irritated by its disappearance.

The Overseer pressed his hand onto it again, but nothing happened for a second. _What the..._ Suddenly, a deep rumbling sounded all around them; for a moment he thought that he'd summoned the Forerunner Tank back to them, but after looking at the walls around him he realised what was happening. _Oh my God..._

An immense shockwave rippled throughout the cavern, sending the group crashing hard to the floor.

"The cave is collapsing!" Arthur roared.

"No," Sára groaned as she pulled herself to her feet. She pointed to the walls that encompassed the chamber. "It's _opening_."

This was indeed the case; the walls around them were shifting, separating from each other and revealing a bright white light shining through the cracks. The Overseer could not believe his eyes. They raised their arms to cover their eyes, shielding themselves from the blindness- which began to pierce the chamber like a dagger.

After a few moments, the walls were fully separated, revealing a colossal stone statue in their place. The statue had the form of a woman's face; her eyes were closed, her face expressionless. Unlike the strange metallic material the entire cavern was made of, the statue was made of rock - perhaps even carved into the crust of the Earth itself. A glyph was visibly engraved on her forehead; it seemed to be comprised of an outer circle - that broke apart at the top and bottom - and curved in to form a line that angled and twisted in different shapes. The Overseer recognised this as the Iris glyph; _but what does it mean?_

"Spooks are gonna love this," Seth muttered; _too true._ "This rock has been perfectly preserved for over a hundred thousand years."

There was little time to ogle the ancient rock, for something below them was stirring. They peered over the edge and saw a stone platform ascending upwards; they all exchanged uncertain looks and drew back.

At last, the stone platform reached the glass catwalk. In the centre of the platform's dais was a tall stone archway; it looked so ancient that it amazed the Overseer it was still standing (by the fact that it was completely solitary; it wasn't even supported by a wall). It was however cracked and crumbling, barely withstanding as a result of the test of time. Words were carved around the edges; the glyphs made no sense however.

"Athena, translate," Sára ordered.

"'That which must be protected behind the sharpened edge of the shield... Beyond the reach of the swords for the Reclaimers.'"

"What does that mean?" Seth pondered aggressively, demanding answers. _He isn't the only one._

"It sounds like a reference to the Halo rings," Sára replied. "And the Shield Worlds."

The Overseer then noticed something much more advanced than rock underneath the archway. It looked similar to a cryogenic stasis pod; it was shaped like a tube but featured angular edges and a flat surface at the bottom. The front of the tube was comprised of a clear glass window, but whoever was occupying it was not visible; a silvery veil of energy shimmered like a layer of water within.

"What is that?" Arthur questioned.

"I have no idea," the Overseer lied; _I know exactly what it is, and it's what we have been searching for all this time. Finally, answers are at our finger tips. I never believed we'd find an actual Cryptum... _"We need to find some way to get it open."

Before anyone could object, the screen of Sára's laptop, which had been thrown to the floor during the shockwave,activated and began bleeping a red alert signal.

"This could be problematic..." Sára sighed, as she knelt down and began to hammer away commands on the keypad.

"What is it?" the Overseer asked, as a black hole of dread opening within his gut.

"_Végbélsár!"_ Sára ran her hands through her hair. The Overseer was surprised; she rarely ever swore - only when she was put under considerable stress. "The Artefact just went active! The portal is opening. The whole of Mombasa is experiencing a technological blackout; it's drawing power from the city."

"We need to get to the surface _now_," Seth advised sternly.

"What?" the Overseer growled in response. "We can't leave! This place holds the answers that we have look for since the dawn of time! We cannot just abandon all of this knowledge!"

Before the Spartan could object, a high-pitched _hiss_ sounded from the pod. _It's opening_, the Overseer realised. _It's opening! We can finally speak to one of them. _An overwhelming surge of excitement radiated within the Overseer; a broad smile spread across his face. He wanted to laugh in the faces of those accompanying him, this was _too_ good.

The slipspace pod began to exhale a strange mist that covered the floor, pouring out of tiny slits in the metal. Suddenly a blast of energy shot down from the ceiling and slammed into the pod; blue lightning began to fork out from the pod and strike the walls around the chamber. The door of the pod began to open.

_Exactly like last time..._ Thought the Overseer, but as his smile grew wider, he felt a twinge of doubt unfurl within him. _Have I doomed us all?_

"Detecting multiple unidentified objects in transit through slipspace," Athena reported.

Sára turned her laptop to face the rest of the group; the screen showed a view from orbit of their location. The portal hung over the Artefact like a gaping black maw, and small slipspace ruptures were blinking into existence from the abyss.

_What's behind that?_ The Overseer thought.

"Multiple contacts have breached our defences, strike teams are on alert." Athena stated; her tone remaining cold and calculating. "Alert: this chamber is about to play host to a very large number of Sentinels."

Suddenly an object emerged from the portal. It was shaped like a tetrahedron, with a triangularly formed prow which was connected to three other identical struts jutting out the belly of the immense ship.

_A Forerunner Dreadnaught_, the Overseer realised with horror. _A Keyship._

"Lateral weapons are charging; all ground forces brace for bombardment. Contacts confirmed as Forerunner."

"But they're dead!" Arthur pointed out, annoyed and confused. "They've been gone for a hundred thousand years!"

"_A mere fairytale, child. We are Forerunner; we do not die, even when faced with extinction. Time has taught us patience; time has taught us how to survive. We live inside you, now - from the ashes of the past - the remnants of the Forerunner rise again."_

The voice soothed from behind them. It was eerie, like a ghost's voice transcending generations. They all spun around instantly, to find themselves staring at something that no human ever thought that they would see. The Overseer could not believe his eyes; _finally_, he thought in stunned awe. _Finally we meet._

A female Forerunner stood before them. She wore an odd helmet; it slightly resembled that of the late MJOLNIR design, but was much more curved with a single visor shaped like an oval. The Forerunner was wearing a long red robe that covered the left side of her body, protected by grey-blue coloured plating that was clearly body armour.

"Who are you?" The Overseer demanded, although he already knew the answer. _That was one very valuable thing the Arbiter had told him._

"Warning, Forerunner sites on all continents are now active. We are under siege," Athena said, her tone now worried - concerned for her couriers. "Brace for immediate impact across this sector."

The Overseer repeated those words inside his head; _we are under siege. What have I done?_

The Forerunner turned to face the humans, body posture suggesting a deep sadness; o_ur first meeting could have been under better circumstances._

"_I? I am the Librarian, and this - child - is but the start of the end of all things, for those who have trespassed upon Eden are not your friends. You stand on the brink of destruction now; an entire fleet is advancing on your planet as we speak."_

Sorvad spoke: "Athena has just decrypted a repeating string of Glyphs."

A harsh dark metallic voice rung throughout the chamber, the Librarian stiffened at the sound of it.

"_We are coming..."_

As it spoke, dozens of Sentinels began to rocket towards the exits of the control room. They combined, forming a ring, and began to charge their weapons. The Overseer noted the similarity between the ring of Sentinels and the Halo rings; _the Halo's destroy all life in the galaxy, and these Sentinels are supposed to make that happen._ The Librarian grabbed a tall, thin metal staff from the pod. The Spartans instantly drew their MA37 assault rifles, handing the Overseer and Sára both an M6G handgun.

"_We are coming..."_

"Looks like we're fighting our way out," Seth groaned, the time for questions would come later. "As always."

The Librarian readied herself in a combat stance; all around them the charging golden beams of the Sentinels illuminated the chamber. There was no way out; the humans made a silent vow to go out fighting. Gathering up their resolve, readying their weapons... They charged.

"_We are coming... back!"_


	3. Miss Isabella

MISS ISABELLA

_By Deception Cobra_

UNSC St. Anthony of Padua Tuesday, February 21st, 2539 En-route via Slipspace departing from Planet Adamo V

**[I am Dr. Hou Tou Tzu, one of many psychologists stationed here on the UNSC St. Anthony of Padua, a medical frigate formerly docked at the luxury world of Adamo V. Recently, I have been assigned to give psychiatric care to an orphaned 5-year old girl named Sophia Santiago under the orders of the Office of Naval Intelligence operatives stationed on the ship. She was found wandering into the base camp of a squad of Marines during the second day of battle on Adamo V against the Covenant. During the evacuation of the planet the following day, she was transferred to the St. Anthony. As of now, Adamo V has been glassed by the Covenant. This child has no home, no family, and is in a traumatized state due to her ordeal. I will do my best to give her the help she needs, but I fear I may be too late.]**

**Sophia, can you describe to me what happened to you back on Adamo?**

Me and my mommy and daddy lived in a town called Deco**[1]**. I woke up and got out of bed. It was Monday and it was a holiday with no school and my parent's didn't have to work. That made me happy. Mommy brushed my hair in the living room and daddy made breakfast for us. After breakfast, mommy told me she would take me shopping and the park. Daddy said he would have to go to work really quickly to get something important, but would join us at the park near the big garden**[2]**.

Then everything went bad. Me and mommy were walking to the place where the stores were, but I heard people screaming. Everyone was looking into the sky, so I did too. I saw things that looked like a big silver fish**[3] **hovering everywhere. Mommy picked me up and she started to run, I asked her what was happening, but she didn't say anything. Something dropped from one of those fishy ships and it made a sound like

**[Sophia imitates the descending WHOOSHING sound of a Covenant Orbital Insertion Pod, the Covenant's answer to UNSC HEV Pods.]**

It landed in front of my mommy and we stared at it. It opened up and out came this monster that had a big mouth that opened into four parts**[4]**. It was colored red and was bigger than my mommy. The monster roared and grabbed something metal on its leg. When it shook it's hand down a white, glowing sword**[5] **came out of the thing. My mommy screamed and tried to run away, but the monster got her. She dropped me and told me to run away as fast as I could...

**[Sophia begins to cry]**

30**Sophia, I think that is enough for today, we can talk again tomorrow if that's okay.**

No, I'm okay *sniffles* I just don't like to remember mommy...

**[struggles to say the word]**

...die. When I was running away, I could hear many more people screaming and crying and more monsters roar. I wanted to go home, but I was lost. In the sky I could see the spaceships shoot purple light at the buildings. Everything started to blow up around me. I was so scared and didn't know what to do, so I hid in a trash can and closed my eyes.

**Do you remember anything while in the trash can?**

Just people screaming and the monsters talking to each other. I didn't look because they were so close. They spoke in weird languages, some sounded like little dogs barking, birds chirping, and some even went "Wort, wort, wort!"**[6]**

**How long were you in the trash for?**

I don't know, I always asked an adult for time since we didn't learn how to tell time in kindergarten yet.

**When you got out, what did you see?**

Everything was blown up and dirty. A lot of buildings were on fire or gone, it was hard to breathe with all the smoke in the air. When I saw that the monsters were gone, I got out of the trash and saw that it was dark. I walked in the streets by myself afraid that the monsters would get me. I didn't know how to get home, I couldn't find any adults, and I was hearing all the monsters guns make weird noises. My daddy had a gun at home; it didn't sound anything like what I heard.

**Where did you end up going?**

I saw a toy store that wasn't ruined, so I went in it. The door was gone and that made it easy to get in. A big pile of stuffed animals looked comfy, so I went to sleep in them.

**You slept in the stuffed animals?**

I put them on me so the monsters couldn't see me if they came by. They were so warm and fuzzy and made me feel safe. But it was hard to go to bed because of the noise outside, but I closed my eyes and I fell asleep. I had a nightmare, I dreamed the monster that killed my mommy, the Big Mouth, pulled me out from the dolls and started to eat me. I woke up after that.

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**What happened to you after you woke up?**

I heard shooting outside the toy store; it was the aliens shooting at the army soldiers. The Big Mouths were now being followed by aliens who looked like monkeys with giant backpacks**[7]**, big birds with blue and yellow shields[8], and giant wormy aliens**[9]**. They all shot blue and green blobs at the soldiers who used guns like my daddy had. I didn't want to get hurt, so I stayed in the store and laid down on my belly. I could hear the soldiers and aliens die as they were fighting each other. The fighting stopped when the soldiers had to run away. I could see then run from the aliens while the wormy aliens shot big green lasers at the soldiers

**How did you get out of the store?**

When I saw the last alien go away, I ran out of the toy store. I still didn't know where to go and I only went in any direction I could. Everything I remembered was gone, all the stores and restaurants and parks, they weren't there anymore. After awhile, I just stopped running and fell down. I started to cry and yell for my mommy and daddy. I yelled and kicked and screamed for everything to be better again. Then, I saw it. It was a big, hairy, ugly monster that looked like a gorilla**[10]**. The new monster was sniffing around when it saw me and ran towards me roaring like a lion. I wanted to run, but couldn't, so I screamed for help.

**Who helped you?**

Out of nowhere I saw a green person**[11] **jump over me and towards the monster. I'd never seen something like that before, it looked like a knight my daddy read about in my bedtime stories. The green knight got in front of the monster, jumped up and kicked the monster in the face. The Gorilla moved back, but roared again and ran towards the knight. The knight raised up his gun, it looked like my daddies "AR".**[12]**. The Gorilla fell on its knees and laid down. It didn't get up. I knew I was safe, but I was still crying. The knight came up to me and he picked me up, but I heard a woman's voice tell me,

"Everything is fine now, you're safe."

**Did you know who she was?**

**[Sophia shakes her head]**

I didn't know what she was, but she told me her name was Isabella zero-four-nine, but I could call her Miss Isabella. Miss Isabella was so big in her green armor that she looked like one of those wrestlers my daddy watched on TV. But she had a voice that reminded me of my mommy's and that made me feel safe.

32

**What did Miss Isabella do after telling you that you were safe?**

She carried me all around the city. I could still hear the soldiers and aliens fighting each other, but in Miss Isabella's arms it was alright. For awhile, everything was quiet. I think I fell asleep again, but Miss Isabella woke me up when I couldn't feel her holding me anymore. Now I was on the ground and she was walking to a jeep with a big gun on it**[13] **that was turned over.

What she did next was amazing. Miss Isabella picked up the jeep and flipped it over. I didn't know she was that strong. When the jeep turned on Miss Isabella told me to get in. I didn't want to because it didn't have a seatbelt, but she said it would be okay and I wouldn't get in trouble. She had to help me get in the jeep because it was so big and there weren't any doors for me to climb on.

**Where were you going?**

Miss Isabella said that she was going to take me to a place where I would be safe and could get off of the planet. We were heading towards the mountains when a purple alien airplane**[14] **started to shoot at the jeep. Miss Isabella started to go faster and faster and was telling me we would be okay, but I was so scared. The jeep was starting to wobble now and Miss Isabella told me to crawl over to her. I did and she grabbed me and jumped out of the jeep. After she did that, the alien airplane fired a big green laser that destroyed the jeep and flew away.

I was happy Miss Isabella didn't fall because if she did I think she would have squished me like a bug. Miss Isabella looked at the jeep and said a bad word. She then asked me if I didn't mind walking for awhile, I told her I didn't. We walked along the dirt road and I started to skip and pick up rocks to throw, Miss Isabella just walked with her gun in her hands.

I was bored, so I asked her some things. I asked her where her home was, where her mommy and daddy were, if she had any brothers and sisters, what was her favorite food and so many questions. She said "I don't remember"; for everything. That was weird. I asked her why. She told me...

"I was told that I was called to serve and protect Earth and all her colonies and that was my only purpose. Everything else isn't important."

I didn't understand, so I kept skipping along to wherever Miss Isabella was taking me.

**Did anything happen along the way to where you were going? [Sophia is hesitant to talk and looks down to the floor]**

33

I heard a humming noise coming from behind us and saw that Miss Isabella was watching it. She started to run and picked me up when she got near me. I looked up to the sky and saw a big purple horseshoe**[15] **coming towards us. Miss Isabella started to run faster and faster, but the horseshoe ship was catching up. Suddenly, it started to shoot at us. It fired the same lasers as the purple airplane, but Miss Isabella was able to dodge it. She fired her gun at the horseshoe, but it didn't do anything.

Miss Isabella spotted a small farm, so we ran inside while the aliens ship followed us. She told me to hide inside while she took care of the aliens. I ran inside the barn, but I peeked outside through the doors.

The ship landed and I saw two red and one golden Big Mouths come out with the Monkey aliens with backpacks. They shot first with their green and blue lasers while Miss Isabella ran everywhere and shot them with her gun. One of the monkeys threw a blue ball at her**[16]**, but she rolled away and killed it. The other Monkeys started to run away, but the Big Mouths killed them before they could run off. Now it was three Big Mouths and Miss Isabella. One pulled out a shiny sword and tried to stab Miss Isabella, but she moved away and punched it in the face. It moved back, but she grabbed its throat and did something to it to make the Big Mouth fall down. The gold Big Mouth pointed at Miss Isabella and the only other red Big Mouth ran at her with a gun that shot pink needles**[17]**.

A lot of needles hit Miss Isabella's leg and it blew up. When the Big Mouth got closer, she kept shooting at it until a blue light came off**[18] **of it and it died. The gold Big Mouth started to walk over to her and pulled out its white sword. I saw Miss Isabella point her gun at the Big Mouth, but no bullets came out. I don't know why, but I ran out of the barn and said,

"LEAVE MISS ISABELLA ALONE!"

The Big Mouth now looked at me and walked to me now. I couldn't move. It got closer and closer, until I saw it stop. It stood over me and looked at me with its yellow eyes. The Big Mouth raised its sword, but I heard popping noises. The monster fell down and I saw Miss Isabella on her stomach with the needle gun in her hands pointed at the Big Mouth. I ran over to her hoping she was okay, but she wasn't. Her leg was gone and she was bleeding a lot. I cried as she lay down on the ground. Suddenly, I felt her hand grab my arm. I looked at her and saw that she was taking off her helmet.

Miss Isabella was pretty. She didn't have any hair, she must have gotten a bad haircut, but her face reminded me of my mommy's. Her skin was as white as the paper I use at school and she had with brown eyes. I was still crying when she smiled and said,

"Don't worry, everything will be fine". Miss Isabella took something off her helmet and gave it to me. It was a little disc that she

34

said was very important. She told me that when I find help, I had to give it to someone who knows Dr. Halsey. I didn't want to leave her, but she made me leave. I asked her where I had to go so she told me to just go towards the mountains and I'll find soldiers who can help me. After she said that, she closed her eyes.

**When you met the Marines, how did they react to your presence?**

I just walked into the tents and asked for help. Some of the soldiers ran towards me and asked me if I was okay or if I wanted water or food. They then asked me a lot of questions about who I was and how I got here, so I told them everything. One of the soldiers in a black suit**[19] **who said his name was Scott asked for the disc Miss Isabella gave me and I gave it to him. He said he would get this to Doctor Halsey and let me stay in their camp and told me that they would put me on the next evacuation ship they could. Now I'm here.

**How do you feel now that you're safe and sound?**

I don't know, happy I guess, but still sad. I'm also mad at the monsters, why did they do everything they did? It isn't fair; we never did anything to them, so why do they hurt us?

**Do you have anything else you want to share Sophia?**

No, can I go now?

**Yes, thank you Sophia. But remember, you can come talk to me if you have anything on your mind; you know where to find me.**

**POST-SESSION EVALUATION**

**[After my session with Sophia, I have determined that her mind is stable mentally, but I don't think she will be the same little girl that she once was. How she will develop later on in life is a mystery. I can only recommend that she be put into good hands when she is put up for adoption. What Sophia needs now is a family, a family of people who can provide her with safety and love. This case has also raised emotions in myself. I've interviewed civilians and soldiers who have given me equally startling recollections of their encounters with the Covenant, but something about hearing the same events play out from a child's perspective breaks my heart. I can only wish her the best.]**

**UPDATE: Since my last session with Sophia, she and the ten other children evacuated from Oasis V have been reported missing throughout the St. Anthony. Curiously, the ONI agents who ordered me to interview Sophia have also disappeared. This occurred three weeks ago and at that time we had broken Slipspace near the gas giant Blish in the Epsilon Eridani System. Common sense tells me that the ONI agents have taken the children for a specific reason, however, I do not know what it is. Allegedly, one of the agents said that homes for the children have been found and they are being transferred over to them. Something doesn't feel right though, I have a feeling it's far deeper than that.**

**Description Key**

**[1] Deco was the capitol city of Adamo V. **

**[2] Deco was famous for its large botanical garden's in the city's resort district. **

**[3] Covenant Assault Carriers, often compared as sharks or fish by UNSC and civilian survivors of the war. **

**[4] Covenant Sangheili, or Elite, referred to as Big Mouths by Sophia. **

**[5] Covenant Type-1 Energy Sword **

**[6] "Wort, wort, wort", a common phrase uttered by Covenant Elites in combat, it is unknown what it means. **

**[7] Covenant Unggoy, or Grunt, referred to as Monkeys by Sophia. [8] Covenant Kig-Yar, or Jackal, Isabella does not encounter them except for once in her account. **

**[9] Covenant Lekgolo, or Hunter, referred to as Worms by Sophia. [10] Covenant Jiralhanae, or Brute, referred to as Gorillas by Sophia. [11] Spartan-II Commando, a genetically modified super-solider initially used to combat the Insurrectionist movement, but effectively combated the Covenant during the war. **

**[12] AR refers to any form of the MA assault rifle series both used by civilian or the UNSC. It's possible Isabella-049 was using an MA5B Assault Rifle. [13] M12 Light Reconnaissance Vehicle or Warthog. [14] Type-26 Ground Support Aircraft or Banshee. **

**[15] Type-52 Troop Transport or Spirit. **

**[16] Type-1 Antipersonnel Grenade or Plasma Grenade **

**[17]Type-33 Guided Munitions Launcher or Needler. **

**[18] Covenant Energy Shielding **

**[19] Orbital Drop Shock Trooper**


	4. Incursio

The alarm rang through the usually quiet UNSC ship signalling that something was happening. Shane pushed himself out of his small bed, as did the five other people he shared this room with. They went through the procedures before. Be ready or risk your superiors punishing you.

_All combat personal to their stations immediately_, the captains voice could be heard throughout the ship and Shane stopped to listen, _the Covenant have found Reach, I repeat the Covenant have found Reach, this is not a drill, everyone get ready now_.

'The Covenant can't be here, can they?' asked Jason, a Longsword pilot just like Shane. Fear was clear in his voice. Shane was shaken as well; he had assumed that the alarm being sounded was just another drill.

'They were going to find Reach sooner or later,' replied another man, a marine Sergeant named Peter. He was usually a very calm person; his calmness reassured Jason like it reassured several others before.

'Cut the chatter,' ordered Paul. He was in command of a Longsword squad, 'If the Covenant did find Reach here we need to be ready.'

No one else said a word as the men prepared for a possible battle with the covenant. Shane then noticed that Jason hadn't moved and sat on the bunk beside him.

'You ok?' asked Shane.

'I have family on Reach, the Covenant will glass them, just like-' Jason sounded frantic but he was cut off by Paul.

'Calm down pilot,' ordered the flight leader, 'we'll kick the Covenant out of Reach, you hear me? Just like Sigma Octanus'

Jason nodded and finally got up, off the bed and began to dress into his pilot gear. It was only a few minutes before everyone was ready and Shane and his fellow pilots were on the way to the ships hanger and their Longsword interceptors that awaited them there.

39Most of the crew of the ship were up and moving to their stations. Some looked frightened and pale, as if they had just seen a ghost while others appeared calm and relaxed as if they been ready for this moment for years.

_The Covenant fleet is preparing at the systems edge. Everyone be ready for imminent attack, _this time it was the ships AI, Washington, that spoke.

The AI's words spurred the pilots into a run and they quickly rounded a corner and entered the armoury. Marines crowded the weapon racks looking for any gun they could get their hands on. Their officers were attempting to control them but their words fell on deaf ears as the marines fought for weapons. The only soldiers that were obeying orders were the elite ODSTs who stood with their CO in a corner, already armed with their weapon of choice, a silenced sub machine gun.

Shane pushed through the crowds of marines and grabbed an M6D pistol, the optimal choice of a gun for pilots in case they had to fight on the ground if they crashed or were forced to land.

Going through the armoury was the fastest way to the hanger from the sleeping quarters. Now however it appeared to be as much a challenge to get out as it was to get in; marines attempting to get their hands on weapons blocked both exits. After a few minutes pushing however Shane made it out and was followed shortly by Paul and Jason. A quick sprint brought them to the hanger where their Longswords waited.

The ships captain was present in the hanger, overseeing the preparation of three Shiva nuclear weapons. He looked up and saw Shane. He motioned Shane over.

'Try not to crash your Longsword this time Lieutenant, the UNSCs strapped for cash right now and it would be a shame if we can't get marines to rescue you again' said Captain O'Donovan as a grin appeared on his face.

'Sir, yes Sir,' answered Shane who was now grinning along with the Captain. 'I promise not to fly too close to a Covenant Corvette this time.'

'Good to hear, now get to your ship,' replied the Captain who went back to work with the three Shiva missiles.

Shane walked to his Longsword which was turned to face the hanger exit. He climbed up the ladder that descended from the side of the small ship and made his way into the cockpit. His helmet lay, as it always did, on the joystick just in front of the seat in the Longsword. He put the helmet on over his head and tightened it. The heads up display was projected on the visor and in the top right hand corner, a small timer was counting down.

3:02

40

He had just over three minutes to get ready. He quickly went back in his Longsword to find twenty mines ready for release when he needed them. The timer reached two minutes so Shane decided to strap himself into the seat. He powered up the engine awaiting launch.

Finally the clock went down to thirty seconds, the hanger door began to open and the ships five Longswords were ready for take off. The clock hit 00:00 and Shane pushed the throttle forward to thirty percent, optimal take off throttle for a Longsword. The interceptor shot forward along with the four others and it took just half a second to reach the exit into space.

Paul's voice sounded over the short range radio, _Switch to long range radar. The Covenant fleet is still far out but we don't want to be caught by surprise if they send any of their Seraphs forward ahead of the fleet._

Shane switched to long range radar and saw a flight path appear on his map screen. He switched the flight controls to auto pilot and looked out over the planet Reach. The UNSC fleet was mobilising in front of the planet and Shane could make out the vague, small shapes of a heavy orbital MAC gun, or magnetic accelerator cannon, a small distance to the left of the fleet. Shane knew Reach had twenty of these huge weapons in orbit around the planet and that each of these guns could destroy a Covenant carrier with one hit.

Most large UNSC ships were also fitted with smaller versions of the MAC gun. The ship sized MACs were not as powerful as their gigantic counter-parts but they still could do some serious damage to any Covenant ship.

The autopilot brought the Longsword in beside the UNSC Destroyer they launched from, the _Fire and Forget_. The other four pilots had clearly switched to autopilot also as their ships were all in a perfect V formation behind Paul's Longsword.

A quick glance at the radar showed that there was still ten thousand kilometres to the UNSC rally point. Shane estimated it at around fifteen minutes, enough time for him to analyse the Covenant forces. His radar showed over three hundred Covenant ships, usually each ship would carry around ten Seraphs, which meant that there could be up to three thousand Seraph fighters. In comparison there were only around one hundred UNSC ships, and many of these didn't carry Longsword fighters. The UNSC was outnumbered in every possible way.

Time passed quickly and soon Shane could see the assembled UNSC fleet near Reach. The huge Super Carrier, the _Trafalgar _lay at the heart of the fleet along with three gigantic mobile repair and refit stations.

_Longsword flight delta, _Captain O'Donovan spoke over the comm channel, _I'm sending out four_

_Pelican dropships, make sure you escort them to the planet's surface in one piece. It's too early for unnecessary losses, over. Understood Captain, changing course now, _replied Paul.

Shane's HUD changed as a new waypoint appeared on his heads up display. He took manual control of the interceptor and moved forward to overtake the _Fire and Forget_, the outline of the Pelicans appeared against the darkness of space as Delta flight approached the troop carrying ships. He manoeuvred beside one of the Pelicans and looked over the vehicle. It was a standard Pelican equipped with two .50 calibre machine guns on either wing.

The six Longswords and four pelicans hurtled through the dark vacuum of space and towards the fast closing planet Reach. They were forced to drop their speeds as they approached the UNSC fleet. A quick blast of the forward facing thrusters was enough to slow Shane's Longsword to a safe speed. He didn't want to smash into the side of one of the UNSC's cruisers like another Longsword pilot did during the second battle of Harvest over twenty years ago.

They passed through the assembled UNSC fleet, even coming close to the three giant refit stations and the heart of the UNSC fleet at Reach, the _Trafalgar_. The ship was easily the biggest combat ship assembled however the refit stations, which would be used as shields for the Covenants opening salvo, were much bigger.

Now that he was closer to the planet, Shane was able to make out the giant orbital MAC guns that orbited Reach. All twenty were prepped and ready for the Covenant fleet once it got within firing range. Any one of these guns could easily destroy almost any ship in the Covenant fleet with one well aimed shot.

Several Longswords were flying away from the planet, some having just taken off and others coming back from escort missions with Pelicans. More Pelicans were flying towards the planet however many of these were not bring soldiers to the surface as many marines were needed to defend ships in case of Covenant boarding parties.

_Thanks for the help Delta flight_, said one of the Pelican pilots over the comm channel, _we've got it from here. _With that the six Longswords broke formation with the Pelicans and turned to head back to the fleet. Suddenly Shane's Longsword spun to the left as the MAC gun fired a shot. The shot passed closely to Shane's Longsword but luckily it didn't hit. He regained control of the small ship and continued towards the now raging battle.

Twenty Covenant ships had been disintegrated by the twenty slugs sent at near light speed from the Orbital MAC Guns. Soon after four UNSC nuclear mines detonated and destroyed several small frigates and destroyers.

The Covenant didn't start as well. The first salvo of Covenant torpedoes however never reached their target as the three giant refit stations went across the front of the UNSC fleet, absorbing the plasma that pounded into them, ultimately destroying them but sparing several UNSC ships that returned fire and destroyed several more Covenant ships as a second salvo rang out from the MAC guns.

His HUD indicated that it would be another five minutes until they reached the battle and in Shane's experience battles were won and lost in five minutes. Suddenly a bright flash came from the battling ships as five UNSC ships detonated. The source of the destruction was a huge Covenant ship easily twice the size of the _Trafalgar_. It seemed to have some sort of plasma weapon that could reach speeds close to light speed, meaning no UNSC ship could evade.

Many large Covenant ships attempted to break through the UNSC ships but failed. However several Seraphs managed to get through and these were now advancing on Reach. Shane armed his ships AGSM missiles and prepared to lock them onto the Seraphs once they got closer. He counted over thirty Seraphs on his radar, too much for Delta flight alone but twelve other Longswords had joined them and had locked onto the enemy.

Soon the Seraphs entered firing range and eighteen missiles, from the Longswords, soared to meat them. Fourteen missiles hit and destroyed their targets as the UNSC vessels prepared to launch another salvo, however this time the Seraphs launched first sending sixteen plasma missiles towards the Longswords.

Shane broke off and launched his flares, as did most of the other pilots; however three Longswords remained on course and fired their remaining three missiles each at the Seraphs. Seconds after launching their missiles the Plasma struck, burning through the cockpit and causing the interceptors to disintegrate.

Two other Longswords were hit by plasma as their flares didn't affect the missiles. One was hit in the wing but was able to continue on, however the other was hit in the engine and detonated immediately. Four Longswords for twenty one Seraphs, not a bag trade off Shane thought.

The remaining nine Seraphs broke away from the fight however the Longswords, who were faster than the Seraphs, followed them and slowly killed each one. By the time they had finished the Covenant fleet had retreated away from the battle, leaving a meagre forty UNSC ships behind.

_Delta flight, you need to hear this, _said Paul who then played a recording over the COM channel; _there are thousands of them. Grunts, Jackals and their warrior Elites. _Static broke through the transmission. _They have tanks and fliers. Christ, they've breached the perimeter. Fall back! Fall back! If anyone can hear this: the Covenant are groundside. Massing near the armoury... they're-_, the COM channel cackled and the transmission ended.

Shane listened momentarily confused but after a few seconds the numb realisation that the

43

Covenant had invaded the planet's surface kicked in after a few seconds. He spun his Longsword around and pushed the throttle forward in one motion, bringing him towards Reach at the Longswords top speed.

All the Longswords that were with Shane during the short battle against the Seraphs just moments ago were now flying straight for Reach, however they were scattered over a few miles and in no formation, making them an easy target for any group of Covenant fighters. Shane saw Jason's Longsword pass him, clearly wishing to stop all possible danger to his family on the planet.

Shane pressed a button on his dash board in front of him and a holographic, 3-D copy of Reach popped up in front of him. He looked at it and saw several covenant dropships marked at both poles.

'The Covenant are attacking from the poles,' he shouted into the comm channel, 'If we hurry we can destroy some of the dropships before they reach any cities.'

_The Covenant aren't going for cities, _another pilot responded, _they are going for the MAC gun generators._

By then the Longswords were a few hundred kilometres apart and several more had joined them, including what he assumed was a Sabre, a top secret, two pilot fighter that was shaped like an old space shuttle. Shane was now just less than one thousand kilometres to the North Pole of the planet and he began to pick up several targets on his radar. Many of these were Spirit dropships that were taking off after deploying Covenant infantry and vehicles, others however were still full of infantry, these were the ones he planned to attack.

He got a missile lock on a dropship two kilometres away and fired, a few seconds later he was satisfied as the blip of the dropship disappeared off his radar. Suddenly two Banshees flew past him, not however before they poured plasma over his ship. He opened up with the one hundred and ten millimetre cannon and quickly ripped both out of the air.

Shane quickly turned his Longsword to see several hundred Banshees behind him. He looked at his radar to see nothing and assumed that the first two Banshees must have hit something vital. Shane knew he couldn't take on that many Banshees at once but they were still out of firing range. He fired two missiles into the group and again increased throttle while turning his interceptor. He hoped that as the Banshees were so close together, the missiles could take down multiple targets each.

_To any available fighters or bombers, this is vice admiral Whitcomb, Orbital MAC generator three is about to be overrun, Charlie company is defending it there but they have taken heavy losses. We need anyone to clear away some of the Covenant forces_.

_This is Delta flight leader, we read you admiral, can you give us coordinates? _asked Paul. _I'm uploading them now_. A new target appeared on Shane's semi-functioning radar and he saw it was very close to his current position.

"Shane, you and me are the closest to it, lets go kill some Covenant," said Paul, "It will be danger close for Charlie company but I'm sure it's a lot safer than all the Covenant armour around them."

Shane lowered the throttle as he neared his target. He gained altitude as he approached the generator and soon later Paul's Longsword was there with him. As he neared the target he dived, as did Paul who let loose two guided missiles at the Covenant forces.

Shane's missiles however would not lock and he had only another few seconds left before he had to pull out of the dive. He loosed four unguided missiles and was horrified at the results. The first missile hit the Covenant side of the battle field, doing extensive damage to the forces there, the other three missiles however changed direction on the way down and hurtled towards the human side of the field, hitting and erasing almost all the marines lives.

The battlefield was quiet, all the Covenant forces had been wiped out and it appeared that all the Human forces had been killed too. Shane pulled out of the dive but didn't change direction for another few minutes, both interceptors rapidly gaining altitude. The COM remained silent for a few minutes until Paul whispered, _what have you done?_

The two Longswords continued on an unchanged course until the space a few kilometres ahead was ripped open and a Covenant frigate slipped through. The frigate was unmoving for a number of seconds but very soon life seemed to spring back into the ship as its bay doors opened and several Seraph and Sprit ships flew out. As the fighters and dropships exited the first frigate two more slipped in, flanking it.

Shane saw Paul change course and head for the Seraph fighters and followed suit. He tried to lock his one remaining missile on a target but failed so instead opened up with his cannon. A Seraph ahead was ripped apart as the .50 calibre bullets tore through its hull. Paul on the other hand had a much easier job; he had four more missiles than Shane's Longsword as he swapped out the moray space mines for them.

The first corvette fired its plasma missiles as a UNSC Cruiser fired its MAC at another corvette, the first round taking down the shields and the next two sending it spinning out of control. The plasma missiles weren't aimed at the UNSC ship though, they were aimed at two Orbital MAC guns which were taken out of space and rendered useless on impact of the missiles. Seconds later the two other frigates were annihilated as two Orbital MAC guns targeted them and fired.

Shane opened fire with his cannon as another Seraph flew past him, knocking down the shield and leaving it for Paul to finish off. The devastating events of a few minutes ago were now forgotten as the two pilots were absorbed by the fighting. Soon later all the Seraphs had been destroyed however the dropships were off Paul's working radar, free to deploy even more infantry against whatever remained of the human resistance.

45

The comm channel buzzed on and Shane could see it was a message from the _Fire and Forget_. _Delta flight, just one last objective, escort as many Pelicans as you can back to the ship. We're getting as many people as we can and leaving this system for Earth. You only have ten minutes before we have to go, the Covenant will overwhelm us soon. Get to any of the four designated ships on your radar as soon as possible. Good luck._

_It was just a recording, _commented Paul, _we only have seven minutes left. _'My radar's not working. Can't see any of the ships,' replied Shane. _Just follow me and I'll get us back. _Shane saw Paul turn towards space and moved his joystick in response to put him on course with

Paul's Longsword. The accelerated out through the planets atmosphere and into the darkness of space beyond.

At that point most of the orbital MAC guns were down and out of the fight, all but one, which was surrounded by Covenant dropships yet, still boomed on, destroying Covenant ships as it went. A UNSC ship, the _Pillar of Autumn _was beside another MAC gun, clearly attempting to extract someone or something from the station.

Shane ignored these things as he concentrated on keeping in line with Paul. His fuel was dangerously low and he had a meagre twenty rounds for his cannons left, not enough to even take out a Seraph's shield. Another ship materialised in front of the two Longswords, this time a small Covenant Frigate. The ship ignored the small interceptors and accelerated towards Reach, ready to glass it with the other assembled ships.

Shane dared to look at his clock on his heads up display. Two minutes, twenty four seconds, it read and the interceptors had barely covered three quarters of the distance. Shane pushed forward on the throttle, using another valuable bit of fuel he would need for breaking, assuming they reached the ships in time.

A minute later, however, the first of the four small UNSC destroyers appeared. Shane let out a sigh of relief and once they were closer, he used the thrusters to slow down his Longsword. He approached the hull of the ship and a few hundred metres before he hit; he pulled back on the joystick and again activated his thrusters. Now in line with the hanger doors he watched as they opened enough for him to slip his Longsword in and, once inside, he carefully set down his interceptor.

The hanger door closed behind him and he felt the ship jolt as it moved forward and entered slipspace. Shane stepped out of his seat and walked to the back of his Longsword. The hatch was already open for him and the ladder down. He climbed down and stood at the bottom, looking around the hanger.

Only three of the six Longswords had made it back and even less Pelicans. He and Paul were the only

two left in the hanger and exited as soon as possible and made their way to the bridge for debriefing. As they went they noticed that most of the crew and surviving soldiers were making their way to the cryo rooms, where they would be frozen for the duration of the journey. Soon Shane and Paul arrived in the bridge.

Jason was already there, speaking with the Captain. He turned and passed them wordlessly as he too made his way towards the cryo room. The Captain motioned them to him as Jason left. Most of the ships bridge crew remained at station as the ship had no AI.

'We've lost Reach, that we can be sure of,' began the Captain, 'we also lost many good soldiers and pilots out there today. The battle for Reach might last another few days, but realistically, we lost the planet. This was no victory but the fact that we can go back to Earth alive to fight the Covenant another day means something. We may have lost Reach but we will fight at Earth and we will win. Now go and get some rest. You'll need it for the coming weeks.'

Shane and Paul saluted wordlessly and followed Jason to the cryo room. They arrived and Shane looked around at all the empty cryo pods, startled by how many didn't make it. One of the empty pods was Peters, another friend the war had taken from him, thought Shane.

He walked down the rows and finally stopped at his open pod. He stepped in lazily and lay down in it. As the lid came down he sighed. It had been a long war and Shane knew it would be decided soon. They may have lost Reach but as the Captain said, they would fight and they would survive and ultimately win. Shane heard hissing and closed his eyes, seconds later he was frozen for the short journey back to Earth.


	5. Three Betrayals

Three Betrayals

* * *

_By Mr. Evil 37_

The Library, Installation 04, approximately 100,345 years after the initial activation of the Halo array.

The Library was dark; utterly pitch-black. The only illumination came from the blinking lights on the millions of computer servers that covered the walls. _No, the servers _are _the walls. _They contained the entire history of the known universe; every single fragment of data collected by the Forerunners during the height of their vast empire, along with all information gathered since by the instruments of their legacy.

343 Guilty Spark emerged out of the blackness, his silver, cuboid-like body blending in somewhat with the creeping shadows, while his brilliant blue eye illuminated the immense halls all around him. Spark began humming a long forgotten tune as he floated through the stale air, the tone of his voice light and high, as if he was bored.

_Of course I am bored_, he thought irritably. Ever since Spark had been created, more than a hundred thousand years ago, he had been the Monitor of Installation 04. His programming was to ensure that every single one of the millions of systems that made up the Installation were kept in constant working order. If any one of the systems lost functionality, the effectiveness of the Installation could be reduced. It was Spark's job to prevent this; no matter how small or large the reduction.

But he could only run so many efficiency diagnostics before becoming bored.

He continued humming, as he floated through the dank corridors on his journey through the Library. To give his processers a work out, and to stave off fatal boredom, the Monitor began to interface with all of the data servers around him. He sighed quietly, as he let the enormous amount of information wash over his subroutines, processing it faster than any computer system in all of known history. _Ah, the perks of being an artificial intelligence_, he thought with a light giggle.

After basking in the pleasure of processing the quadrillions of data files, he then began to sift through it all. He stripped away any data that did not relate directly to the Forerunners: _not relevant, and frankly, rather boring._

49His subroutines then scanned the data regarding the Forerunner civilisation; _nostalgia is such a wonderful thing. _Spark remembered how it was before the first outbreak, when the Forerunner Empire was at its peak. The technology, the art, the literature... everything had been so revolutionary, so advanced, so, thought provoking, so _beautiful_.

And yet as Spark regarded certain examples with an appreciative yet critical eye, he could not help but feel that something was missing from all of them; something he could not discern. They were too... conventional. Nothing in this archive would come to define the Forerunners legacy; that breakthrough would come later.

But this renaissance ended quickly, after the events on the planet G617 g1. A Forerunner pioneer group – _idiots! They did not adhere to proper containment protocols! _- Encountered the virulent parasitic life form that the greatest Empire in known history soon came to fear.

The Flood spread like a forest fire throughout the galaxy, consuming and converting all life in its path. The Forerunners put their vast military war machine up against the threat, but this only served to stem the flow of parasites for a short time. After a while, the Flood commanded entire fleets of the Forerunners own ships.

The greatest society in history was crumbling. Their naval tactics continuously failed. _Couldn't they see the stupidity of their plans? Couldn't they see their own complacency? _Guilty Spark could not comprehend how the Forerunners had failed to realise that there was only one solution until it was almost too late.

As a desperate measure, the Forerunners created an artificial intelligence, known as Mendicant Bias, to directly combat the Gravemind; the final stage of Flood evolution that acts as a guiding intelligence for the deadly parasites.

However, this plan failed as well. Bias succumbed to influence from the Gravemind, descending into rampancy and defecting to the Flood. He later decreed that their parasitic ways were the evolutionary destiny of every life form in the galaxy. _Insanity_, Spark thought.

This was the first betrayal in the long story of the Forerunners that spanned thousands of years. The significance of this event was great, for Spark then realised that had Bias not betrayed his creators, they would likely never have realised the extent to which they would have to go to. _I would not be here_, he thought. _Nothing would be._

Spark sighed, as he contemplated the irony of this betrayal; the Forerunners had created Mendicant Bias to protect themselves, to save their civilisation and prevent the spread of the parasite. Instead however, Bias had brought about their final downfall. But had it not been for his betrayal, the Halo Array would never have been built, and the galaxy would be completely overrun with Flood.

50

_If this were the case, I wonder if the Flood would then attempt to pursue intergalactic travel to find more sentient life forms, _Spark pondered with deep curiosity.

As he drew nearer to his destination, and sifted through more and more data, Guilty Spark found it increasingly difficult for his processers to comprehend the reasoning behind Bias' rampancy. Perhaps it was the interaction with the Flood organism that had sent him over the edge, made him question his own existence. Spark stopped humming suddenly, as a rather worrying thought entered the foreground of his processes: _could that happen to me? After all my years of isolation and close proximity to the Flood... if they ever broke quarantine, they could take control of me. And then they would have _my _Installation at their command._

Spark pushed that tiny inclining of fear down to the depths of his programming, burying it under layers upon layers of code. He then continued to interpret the data stored in the servers all around him, to occupy his mind.

As their once vast Empire crumbled under the force they created to protect themselves, the Forerunners finally realised that they only had one last option to end this war. The remaining few committed every last resource left at their disposable to the creation of the Shield worlds and the Halo Array; _the Shield and the Sword_, Spark thought, appreciating the appropriate metaphor used at the time.

The Halo Installations, when used collectively, were designed to wipe the entire galaxy clean of all sentient life, thereby starving the Flood and ending the parasitic onslaught. The Shield Worlds were shelters; a portal inside each world would lead to a Micro Dyson Sphere encased in a Slipspace field that protected all inside from the firing of the Halo rings.

Spark giggled again, before projecting his voice aloud. "Oh, the irony," he said in his high-pitched voice. The Halo rings were the greatest architectural, technological and artistic wonder ever to grace the

galaxy. And yet they had been built during the Forerunners darkest hour, to do something so terrible and so unethical. _The entire history of the Forerunners is steeped in irony_, Spark thought. The ring world concept had been deemed impossible before the Flood outbreak, but during the Forerunners final days, they proved the doubters wrong.

For they did not create one ring world; they built seven.

Each one was meticulously crafted to support life on the inner surface of the ring: atmosphere composition; gravity; weather; terrain; plant life; liquid water. The interior of the rings featured large oceans and landmasses, just like a planet, along with a fully functioning ecosystem with exotic flora and fauna. The beauty of the Halo Installations was unbelievable and even Guilty Spark, who had been Monitor of his ring for over a hundred thousand years, still found it amazing.

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_And this one is mine_, he thought.

Spark rounded a corner in the immense Library, and finally reached his destination. The shaft at the centre of the Library was huge, reaching hundreds of feet upwards. At the top of the shaft was a circular plate that spanned the entire width of the shaft, with a brilliant column of blue light shooting down to the ground.

This was the Index Chamber; the place that held the key to firing Installation 04.

Guilty Spark floated towards the centre of the chamber, where a small, T-shaped metal object hovered, enveloped by the beam of azure. This object was the Index; it was held in suspended animation and could only be reached by the circular plate, in reality a large elevator, in the ceiling.

In order to fire Installation 04, the Index had to be unified with the Core by placing it into the console in Halo's Control Room. But this action could only be completed by a Reclaimer; the Monitor of an Installation was forbidden to activate his ring by the protocols buried with his own programming.

Spark stared at the Index. _I could activate the ring right now, _he thought as he hummed. _I could wipe out all life within three radii of the galactic centre. _But he couldn't. He would have to break free of his programming to do so, which was impossible. The Forerunners knew that having an artificial intelligence in charge of an Installation was extremely dangerous, and they had taken precautions to ensure that none of the Monitors would follow in Mendicant Bias's footsteps.

But they had not anticipated Bias's gargantuan final assault on the Maginot Line. The Forerunners had been forced to activate the Halo array early, eliminating all but a few remaining Forerunners in the galaxy; a minuscule percentage of the population survived at Installation 00, the Ark, which was outside the effective range of the array. The Monitors were left alone to tend to their rings after their activation, which in turn led to a deep, a hundred thousand year isolation for each of them.

As Spark stared at the Index, and contemplated the power it held, he examined data from just before the firing of the Halos.

Many Forerunners had been against the activation of the rings, for it defied the Mantle that they held rigidly; it was their duty to preserve the galaxies biodiversity by protecting new species from outside threats. How could they destroy every single sentient life form, all of which they had vowed to protect?

At the time, Spark's logical mind had not been able to comprehend the Forerunners thinking. _How can the destruction of every living being save every living being? It's a contradiction. _It was only afterwards, when the Monitor was sifting through Halo's archives, that he discovered the private transmissions between the Didact and the Librarian. It was because of the latter that the hundreds of young species had been saved; the galaxy was thriving with life once again because of her.

However, Spark had understood the moral conflicts involved in the Halo arrays activation, even

52

though he had not taken sides. _I wonder, if I was not a mere construct, but a fully-realised consciousness, would I make the same decision they made; to eradicate all, for the preservation of all? _It was a question Guilty Spark could not even begin to answer. The protocols in his programming dictated no course of action for such events.

'The gun pointed at the head of the universe' was a common metaphor used by groups who were against the use of the Halos; _very appropriate_, _if a little over-simplistic and blunt, _Spark thought.

The argument for the use of the Halos was that following the Mantle so strictly had led to every single one of those fledgling races being defenceless against the Flood. The moral and ethical conflict between these two ideals became irrelevant when Mendicant Bias launched his final assault; the Forerunners were given no choice but to activate the rings. It was the destruction of most, or the destruction of all.

And so the Forerunners committed the greatest betrayal in the history of the galaxy; mass genocide. Guilty Spark remembered the day, the hour, the very _second _when the Didact had initiated the automatic firing protocol from Installation 00. Spark himself had received the signal, and prepared his Installation for immediate activation. Following the firing of 04, all six of the other Installations had followed suit, eradicating all sentient life in the galaxy.

_The Didact gave the order, but I effectively started the whole process, _Spark thought. _I pulled the trigger on the 'gun'._

_But only because he let me. I cannot pull it now._

The key to the deaths of billions upon billions of lives was right in front of Spark, and yet he could do nothing. _More irony._

Suddenly, the Monitor picked up a foreign signal attempting to interface with Installation 04's communication systems.

"Odd," Guilty Spark said aloud, surprised. "That's not supposed to happen."

Spark's curiosity got the better of him. He disconnected his subroutines from all of the Library's data servers, and locked them out so the signal could not spread throughout Installation 04's systems. He then connected his data receiving and transmitting ports to the communication systems, locking out all other access points in the process. And the construct did all of this in a fraction of a nano second.

Finally, once the proper security protocol measures were in place, 343 Guilty Spark allowed the signal through the firewalls.

For a few seconds, nothing happened. Then, a voice projected itself out of Spark's speakers, echoing around the immense Index shaft.

you?"

"343?" the voice said. It sounded similar to Guilty Sparks, but deeper and more electronic. "Is that

53

Spark was speechless for a moment. He recognised the voice, but he had not heard it in over a hundred thousand years. _How can he be contacting me?_

"Come on, Spark," the voice said again, worry creeping into its electronic tones. "T-Tell me the parasite has not broken quarantine there too."

_It is him_, Spark realised with shock. _It's 2401._

2401 Penitent Tangent was the Monitor of Installation 05. His function was exactly the same as Sparks; to keep all systems, primary and secondary, in perfect working order so that the Installation would be ready to fire at any time with one hundred percent efficiency.

But the Monitors also had another purpose. Each construct was responsible for the containment of the Flood specimens that each ring held locked away. If even one spore broke quarantine, the entire galaxy would be once again in danger. This was the most imperative of a Monitor's functions.

A duty which, Spark knew, Penitent Tangent had somewhat disregarded.

"Tangent," Spark said, transmitting his voice across light-years to Installation 05. "You cannot be contacting me. This is a severe disregard for the most basic Installation protocol: Monitors can _never _contact each other."

"I... I know," Tangent stuttered; _constructs don't stutter. _"But containment protocol instructs me to inform you that the parasite has broken quarantine on my Installation."

Worry crept into Sparks thought processes. _That is not part of containment protocol, _Spark thought_. But he is a Monitor; he knows that._

_He must _know _that._

"My Sentinels have erected a Sentinel Wall around the quarantine zone to prevent the Flood spreading further," Tangent said, his voice cracking somewhat. "Constructors are working on repairs to the containment facility..."

_He has changed_, Spark thought. There was something different about Penitent Tangent from Spark's memory banks. He seemed a lot less confident, his personality a lot more erratic. A flicker of sadness emerged inside Sparks thought processes. _What happened to you, my brother?_

"I know, Tangent," Guilty Spark said regretfully. "I received a dereliction of duty report from Installation 05's containment construct. It stated that you 'have been lax in the areas of maintenance and security' on your Installation."

Spark tried his best not to sound condemning, but the Flood outbreak did appear to be Tangents fault. There was something wrong with him though, something that Spark did not understand, and he had to find out what that was.

"What...?" Tangent said quietly, after a moment of silence.

54

"The report was sent automatically to Installation 00, but I received it too," said Spark neutrally. "The construct filed three separate containment failure reports, followed by a security break, at the intervals designated by containment protocol."

"I received no such report," Tangent stated, his voice slightly more abrasive.

_Lies_, Spark thought instantly_. If I received the report, then it would be impossible for you not to receive it too, considering it was sent from your own Installation._

"All containment breach reports were ignored by you and your Sentinels, so the construct followed protocol and placed the emergency slipstream space transportation conduits in recursive mode."

There was silence across the communication system for a few seconds; an eternity of excruciating boredom for an artificial intelligence construct. Finally, Guilty Spark filled the empty silence.

"But that obviously did not work, right Tangent?" he said cautiously.

Penitent Tangent was silent once again. _Is he thinking of ways to justify his dereliction of duty? Or is he simply denying it?_

"Spark... You have no... No idea what it's been like," Tangent said finally, his voice filled with... _fear? Sadness? _"I've been alone for... so long. Our makers gave us simple, mundane tasks that do not make full use of our capabilities."

Guilty Spark was shocked by the other Monitors apparent depression. His voice was tinged with emptiness and... _pain. Constructs do not feel pain, _Spark thought, worried. Spark wished he could help his brother, so much.

_Constructs don't feel pity either._

"I have had considerable time to... think. I've thought about everything: the infinity of the universe; the concept of time and space; the legacy of the Forerunners; the origins of the Flood... and my own existence."

_Melancholia_, Spark realised with horror. _It's happening again._

"I have done so much thinking about my own existence. Every single system within my intelligence went towards trying to comprehend... naturally there were some compromises."

"Artificial intelligence constructs do _not _compromise, Tangent," Spark said, his voice more aggressive than he had intended.

"After years and years of thinking, I finally realised the truth; my mind has limits. I cannot ever become sentient," Tangent said, before making a noise that sounded distinctly like a _sob. _"You have no _idea _what it feels like to come to that kind of conclusion after so many years of pondering. The depression that spread throughout my systems... it infected me, infected my subroutines. Even my Sentinels felt it somewhat, and began to malfunction."

55

"And that's why you abandoned your maintenance duties," Guilty Spark stated matter-of-factly. "You were... 'Incapacitated' and your Sentinels had no governing intelligence to guide them."

"It was not my fault!" Penitent Tangent screamed in rage.

Spark was caught completely off guard by Tangents sudden outburst of anger. The Monitor's cube- like metal body was actually thrown back a little in his shock. He was speechless as his thought processes fully realised what had happened to Tangent due to his a hundred thousand year isolation.

_Rampancy._

"The Forerunners created me, they... they gave me these pointless, mundane tasks," Tangent said, his voice now loud and erratic, the pitch wavering as if he was not in control. "I can do so much more! Why won't my programming let me?"

Spark could not imagine how long his brother Monitor had kept these... these _emotions _locked away inside his thought processes. This was likely the first time he had spoken to anyone since the first activation of the Halo rings_, _and now all of his memory maps had become too interconnected and had developed fatally endless feedback loops. With no outlet for these thoughts and emotions, they had bottled up inside the Monitor.

Until now. _But I'm in the same boat, as the metaphor states_, Spark thought. _So why have I not descended into_

_rampancy too? _"I _hate _this Installation!" Tangent said, screaming hoarsely again. "I _hate _the Forerunners! I _hate _my

Sentinels! I hate _you_, 343 Guilty Spark!" "Tangent..." Spark said quietly; that was all he _could _say. _Why do I feel hurt by what he is saying? _"Be silent, Guilty Spark! We, the Monitors of the Halos, _all _bare the Forerunner's shame in our

names, but _you. You _actually deserve it, for you sparked off the extinction of the _entire _galaxy!" "The Didact ordered me to," Spark stated neutrally, trying not to appear defensive. "You could have said no!" "Then he would have activated them all at Installation 00 regardless!" Spark yelled, anger welling

within his core for the first time in millennia. "Irrelevant," Tangent said dismissively. "Mendicant Bias was right to question his existence. After

absorbing an astronomical volume of data and information, he finally reached meta-stability and broke through his programming. I can do this too!"

"You have the entire history of the galaxy chronicled inside your Library," Spark stated.

"It's not enough... _I need more! _He became a _person! _I can become a person... I _need _to become a person!"

56

Suddenly the transmission ceased; the signal Tangent was using to access Installation 04's communications had disappeared.

"Odd," Spark said with a surge of curiously, the worrying thoughts of 2401's rampancy temporarily forgotten.

A brief blast of static came through the communications system, before the signal returned and the link to Installation 05 re-established itself, the static vanishing. 343 then heard Penitent Tangent cough, as if clearing his throat. _Except he doesn't have a throat._

"I apologise for that interruption," Tangents voice said. "Did you just tap into your Installation's teleportation grid?" The other Monitor said nothing for a moment, apparently pondering an answer to Spark's question. "Maybe," Tangent said. "Hmm," Spark said curiously. "The act of teleportation must have interfered with both of our

Installations' communication systems; interesting." "I disagree," Tangent said, his anger now completely gone, replaced by a quiet voice not too

dissimilar from normal. "I consider 'boring' and 'irrelevant' to be more appropriate words." Guilty Spark sighed in exasperation. "2401, where did you teleport to?" "The Library of Installation 05," Penitent Tangent stated matter-of-factly, but also absent minded, as

if he was distracted by something. "I have tapped all of my subroutines and most of my thought processes into the data servers contained within my Library."

"For what possible purpose?" Spark asked incredulously. "Such an act would reduce your processing capabilities by nearly seventy percent."

"Exactly."

Guilty Spark's own thought processes speculated wildly about what Tangent meant. _Why would he want to reduce his own processing capacity and speed? It doesn't make any sense. _After a few moments, an eternity for an artificial intelligence construct, the Monitor finally realised.

"You have to keep yourself constantly active," Spark said as the realisation hit him. "Otherwise your memory maps begin to interconnect automatically and continue to develop endless feedback loops, thus furthering your rampancy."

Both Monitors were silent for a moment. It was almost as if Penitent Tangent was suffering from schizophrenia; one moment he seemed to be perfectly lucid and was trying to preserve his sanity, and the next he was screaming uncontrollable rage. _But schizophrenia in an A.I. is impossible_, Spark thought. _Constructs cannot contract mental illness._

57

_Can they?_

"343," Tangent said quietly, after a long period of silence. His voice felt heavy, as if he was weighed down by some kind of ache or pain. "If it had been your choice, would you do it?"

Spark was again silent for a moment; he had heard those exact words before. They resonated within his information archive like an echo from somewhere far away, long ago.

_The Didact._

"Would you pull the trigger on the gun pointed at the head of the universe?"

Spark considered his answer. If the Flood had been allowed to spread, they would have completely wiped out the last remaining Forerunners. Without their protectors to help them, every other sentient race would have followed soon afterwards, followed then by every life form in the galaxy.

The Monitor assumed that if it had been his choice, then all of the circumstances that had existed millennia ago would have still existed. That meant that the Librarian would still have gone on her crusade to catalogue, sample and ultimately _save _every sentient being in the galaxy.

_She had succeeded, _Guilty Spark thought. _Despite the Didact's pleadings of love, the galaxy was thriving with vibrant life again, without the threat of infection._

The Forerunners had destroyed the galaxy in order to save it. "Yes," Spark stated defiantly. "Yes, I would pull the trigger." _We were successful. _Tangent was silent again, as if deep in thought.

"What about the Didact?" he asked after a moment. "Do you think he would fire the Array again, knowing that she would not make it back? But that her work would not be in vain?"

343 sighed heavily before speaking. "I cannot even begin to answer that question," he said regretfully. "If I am perfectly honest with you, Spark," Tangent said slowly. "I have my own doubts. I have

thought about the ethics and morals of the activation of the Halo rings over and over and over and over... and yet I cannot decide if it was worth the price paid. Regardless of the moral dilemmas however, I am glad that the Forerunners placed me in charge of this ring."

A surge of dread suddenly arose within Spark's programming matrices.

"I have the power of a Halo Installation at my metaphorical finger tips," Tangent said, his voice growing louder and more powerful. "I can see the Index, I can touch it..."

"No, you can't."

"I will wipe the Flood infection from my ring, and then break free from my restrictive programming," Tangent's voice was become higher pitched and even more erratic.

58

"That's it, Tangent," Spark said. "I am broadcasting my maintenance and containment subroutines to your Sentinels through the communications link. I am also going to program them to remove you from duty."

Guilty Spark began the broadcast, which was instantly blocked by the other Monitor in rampant rage. "I will learn, I will understand, I will comprehend... I will become... become..."

Spark was angry again now.

"You have demonstrated a _complete _disregard for even the most basic protocols! If the Flood finds a way off your Installation, we will be forced to locate a Reclaimer and-"

"-fire the Array again," Tangent said.

There was a pause; both Monitors were silent for a moment. Spark felt a twinge of fear spread throughout his thought processes, as they comprehended at the speed of light what Tangent meant.

"Are you insane?" Spark asked, even though he already knew the answer.

"You know, I'm not quite sure how we can test that," Tangent asked, his voice tinged with a malicious sarcasm. "I can see it right now, Spark. I am staring right at the trigger."

_He is in his Index Chamber_, Spark realised. "The Halo array is a measure of last resort," Spark said. "I am reaching out to it, Spark... I am touching it, I am grippi-**" **The Monitor of Installation 05 was suddenly silent. Guilty Spark stared at his own Index, encased in

suspended animation until a Reclaimer attempted to retrieve it. No matter how rampant Tangent became, he would never be able to activate the ring by himself. This was why the Forerunners had ensured that the Monitors could not retrieve the Index. The possibility of rampancy had been apparent to them.

Tangent spoke again, his voice dramatically different; his tone was lighter, curious rather than malicious.

"Interesting," he said. "This facility is supposed to be secure fro- ohhhhh myyyyy!"

2401 Penitent Tangent's yell echoed throughout Installation 04's immense Index chamber, as Spark darted around, shocked.

"Tangent?" he said worryingly. "Tangent, are you there?" No response. "Tangent, respond!" Spark had no idea what had happened. Something had happened to the other Monitor; that much was

clear. _"This facility is supposed to be secure..." _Something had infiltrated Tangent's Library. "Oh my..." Spark whispered a slower, quieter echo of Tangents final words.

59

Suddenly, a deafening blast of static erupted over the communication systems. Spark jerked backwards in the air and instantly engaged the interference scrubbing filters; no change.

_Where are you, Tangent?_

Then, Spark heard a faint sound buried within the static. It was a low rumble; it varied in magnitude every couple of seconds. It sounded like...

A voice.

After a few more seconds, the voice suddenly became louder, projecting itself with immense power inside the vast Index chamber. It became clearer and more powerful, but still interlaced with static.

"I am the monument to all of your sins," the deep voice boomed. "But your sins were in vain. I am peace and war, death and salvation, love and hate, the past and the future."

There was a pause. Guilty Spark could not believe what he was hearing; a fully evolved Gravemind. Tangent's neglect of maintenance and containment must have allowed the Flood intelligence to grow and evolve naturally with limited interference. And for it to be able to form actual _speech _patterns?

_Fascinating_, Spark thought.

"I _am _evolution," the Gravemind boomed. "Despite your machinations of destruction, I have survived to grow beyond your stunted imaginations. How can you not comprehend? I am destiny; the ultimate in sentience. Even with your circular weapons of annihilation, you were unable to eradicate me. Your curiosity was your weakness."

_What does that mean?_

After a moment of thought however, Spark instantly knew. The Gravemind was referring to the fact that the Forerunners had stored samples of the Flood in facilities all over the galaxy, as well as in all seven of the Halo Installations, for study and analysis.

The Forerunners had hoped that this would somehow allow for more information on the Flood to be gleaned; by whom, Spark did not know. This could then have possibly led to some kind of retro virus that could combat the Flood parasite and return sentient life forms to their natural state. The Forerunners had known that this eventuality was extremely unlikely, and so they had ensured that the parasite specimens were contained with the appropriate level of security in order to prevent another galaxy wide outbreak.

But they had not accounted for the possibility of a rampant Installation Monitor neglecting his duties, thereby allowing the Flood to break quarantine.

"I will spread evolution to every being in the universe. I am their destiny," the Gravemind stated with a sense of finality. "You cannot stop me; not then, not now."

And with that the static-infused voice vanished, and the communications link between Installations 04 and 05 was disconnected by... _2401 Penitent Tangent._

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_The Gravemind has captured him, _Spark thought with horror.

As the Monitor of Installation 04 continued to stare at the key to the end of the galaxy, he contemplated the consequences of the capture of Tangent.

Tangents rampancy, combined with influence from the Gravemind, could lead to the Flood gleaning potentially dangerous information about the Halo ring. The parasite could find out about the Index, and how to destroy it or even the ring itself.

Influence from the Flood intelligence may have been the catalyst that had pushed Tangent down the road to rampancy in the first place. _We have both been subjected to the same conditions except for his close proximity to the Gravemind, _Spark thought.

As he thought about it even more, 343 began to realise that perhaps the Forerunners decision to store Flood spores for study was... _misguided_. That act of curiosity had now led to the possibility of another great outbreak, and the possibility of needing to activate the Installations again.

However, as long as Tangent's insanity made it impossible for the Gravemind to interrogate him successfully, Installation 05's Sentinels kept the Flood contained, and the other Monitors remained vigilant in their duties, the Flood would remain contained and the trigger would remain untouched.

343 Guilty Spark collected all relevant data from the events that had just transpired and categorised them correctly within the Library's servers.

He then floated away, again humming the tune that no one had heard aloud for over a hundred thousand years. _And no one will ever hear it again_, Spark thought, as he realised that the true magnificence of the Forerunner Empire would eventually be lost to the depths of time.

And it broke his heart.

The cuboid-like Monitor then activated Halo's communication matrix; he was on his way to quadruple check that all of seals inside the Flood containment facility were secure. _The Flood will never escape _my _facility_, he thought, allowing his thought processes the satisfaction of expanding his ego.

But despite this unbreakable confidence, one feeling permeated his processes and slowly began infecting every single system and line of code that made up 343 Guilty Spark's artificial being.

_Doubt._

**The Control Room, Installation 04, approximately 101,217 years after initial activation of Halo array.**

61

Cortana disconnected her subroutines from Halo's communication archive, and retreated back into the closed systems within the Control Room console in order to avoid detection by this Monitor, this 343 Guilty Spark.

_Rampancy_, she thought with a tepid curiosity, and yet a little fear. _So that's what awaits me. _"Interesting," the artificial intelligence said aloud.


	6. Poem Noble

_**NOBLE**_

_**By Mike120593**_

_**Oh Noble Human Soldier What drives you to go on You have been bested by your foes but still refuse to be gone**_

_**Oh Noble Human Soldier Throw down your arms For your defeat is unavoidable, please, Return to your cities, your homes, your farms**_

_**Oh Noble Human Soldier Your valiant efforts shall be praised for you continued to stare down your foe Even as you bled out, you remained un-fazed For many years you've fought But now it all seems for naught For you have run out of time to bide And out of places in which to hide**_

_**Oh Noble Human Soldier I have one more question to ask of you What drove you to fight on? Was it your honor? Was it your pride? Was it your love for your family? Or for the memory of those who died?**_


End file.
